THE GOOD SAMARITAN: Daisy Ridley Joins ‘Taken’ Director’s New Actioner Set For Q2 2026 Prod Start
Highland Film Group is launching world sales at the American Film Market with cameras rolling in Brisbane next year.
pierre morel
THE AMBUSH: Win A Blu-Ray Copy Of Pierre Morel’s Explosive War Thriller Now Available From Well Go USA!
Pierre Morel’s hit war thriller, The Ambush, is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Well Go USA, but I’ll be hosting my final Blu-Ray disc giveaway of the year with this one which I’m happy to share as it’s one of the best films I’ve seen of late. For this, you simply need to answer to the following trivia below by clicking here: True or False: Pierre Morel learned to speak fluent Arabic to prepare for this production. Morel directs from a script by Kurtis Birtell and Brandon Birtell, the story of a unit of Emirati soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in 2018 following the fall of the Yemeni government at the hands of extremists three years earlier. When a unit on patrol during the final week of its tour gets ambushed by terrorists, the brave men and women of the Emirati forces will make a daring midnight-hour attempt […]
THE AMBUSH Strikes Back On Blu-Ray And DVD From Well Go USA This December
Director Pierre Morel is currently in Croatia shooting his newest project with Kate Beckinsale which is currently being shopped at the American Film Market this week, and you can learn all about it at Zac Ntim’s Deadline coverage here. In the meantime, fans of the Taken and Peppermint director will be pleased to learn that Saban Films’ Emirati war drama, The Ambush, is now in the sturdy hands of Well Go USA Entertainment following its theatrical release last week and subsequent digital release as of Tuesday. Morel directs from a script by Kurtis Birtell and Brandon Birtell, the story of a unit of Emirati soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in 2018 following the fall of the Yemeni government at the hands of extremists three years earlier. When a unit on patrol during the final week of its tour gets ambushed by terrorists, the brave men and women of the Emirati […]
THE AMBUSH Review: Pierre Morel’s Latest Blows Up The Bad Guys And Hands Its Hero A Posthumous, Powerful Send-Off
The Middle East continues to be a hotbed of unrest. That was especially the case in 2015 when Yemen’s recognized government fell from an Islamic extremist takeover and UAE allied forces were implemented to back the Yemeni military and help keep peace in the region among civilians. This was ultimately the backdrop of a harrowing story of courage under fire that has since been adapted for the screen for Taken, The Gunman and Peppermint helmer Pierre Morel, who departs from his more escapist fanfare for Saban Films’ latest Arabic-language release, The Ambush (Al Kameen/الكمين). Our story is set in early 2018 and introduces us to the Emirati soldiers at Mocha Base, where the men commence their daily routines. Ali (Marwan Abdulla Saleh), Bilal (Khalifa Al Jassem), and Hindasi (Mohammed Ahmed) are on a mission to investigate some activity just up the road from a remote hut, only to find themselves […]
News Briefs: Grillo And Pettyfer in BRANDED; THE BEEKEEPER Lands Statham, Ayer Directing; Beckinsale In Morel’s CANARY BLACK
• Kieran Hawkes will direct prison drama Branded from a script by Alessandro Camon, which takes its cues from David Grann’s The New Yorker article, “The Brand”. It centers on Taylor (Alex Pettyfer), a once promising football player now serving life for murdering a drug dealer, and soon finds himself as the lynchpin of a growing major criminal empire, forcing him to choose between gang life, and a second chance on the outside. The film will also star Frank Grillo, Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova, and Tom Hopper, and hails from Identity Media and Dark Dreams Entertainment. HanWay is selling international sales at Cannes with CAA Media Finance representing U.S.. (THR) • Jolt actress Kate Beckinsale will star in Canary Black from Taken and Peppermint helmer Pierre Morel. Penned by Matthew Kennedy, Beckinsale will play top level CIA agent Avery Graves, who is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to […]
D.O.A.: Pierre Morel To Direct Sci-Fi Thriller Launching At EFM
Pierre Morel will helm sci-fi thriller D.O.A from a script by Ben Magid (The Call). The film is one of a pair of titles announced this week with the launch of Sentient Pictures International, the second of which is award-winning director Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje’s (Farming) prison drama, Last Meals starring Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) and Boyd Holbrook (Logan). Casting updates remain pending on D.O.A., which centers on John Porter, a ghost hunter who, in the years following the death of his family, has dedicated his life to hunting down ghosts that illegally immigrate into the human world. When he crosses paths with energetic runaway Jenny, who holds the truth behind the mysterious appearance of ghosts, he is forced to overcome his own prejudices and stop a war before it’s too late. Morel is also producing D.O.A. alongside Dallas and L.A.-based Sentient Entertainment founder and CEO Renee Tab and producer Christopher Tuffin; […]
FREELANCE: Actor Juan Pablo Reba Joins Action Comedy From ‘Peppermint’ Director
Taken, Peppermint and District B13 helmer Pierre Morel is shooting action comedy Freelance this week in Colombia, and joining the headlining duo of John Cena and Alison Brie is actor Juan Pablo Raba (Peppermint, “Narcos”). The film is being co-financed by Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios along with Endurance Media, whose Steve Richards is producing alongside Sentient Entertainment’s Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin. Penned by Jacob Lentz (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”) in his feature writing debut, Freelance follows a special forces operator (Cena) who decides to retire from the Army and start a family back in the states. After several years of mortgage payments, school drop offs, backyard barbecues and trying to conform to life in suburbia, he decides to come out of retirement to take a gig providing security for a female journalist (Brie) as she interviews a cruel dictator who may or may not have ordered the attack on him and […]
THE BLACKSMITH: Pierre Morel To Direct Graphic Novel Adaptation
District B13, Taken and Peppermint helmer Pierre Morel will direct action thriller, The Blacksmith. The film is based on the 2011 Kickstart Comics publication written by Richard Sparkman and Malik Evans, and illustrated by Alberto Muriel. The film renames its protagonist, centering its story on Wes Loomis, a high-tech weapons expert for the spy community who is rendered fugitive and on the run when his secret lab is decimated and his colleagues are murdered. Left to his own devices and without his usual tools, he’ll have to improvise his journey of survival as it inches him closer to the dark heart of his profession. Production will begin next year from a script by Source Code writer Ben Ripley. He will produce with Air Force One producer Jon Shestack, Wanted producer Jason Netter, and Jeremy Stein. Morel’s representation, UTA, has U.S. sales rights with Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios financing, exec producing […]
PEPPERMINT Comes Home On Digital, DVD And Blu This November And December
Jennifer Garner stars in PEPPERMINT, directed by ‘Taken’ and ‘The Gunman’ helmer Pierre Morel from a script by Chad St. John.
PEPPERMINT: Evil Hangs In The Name Of Justice In The Official Trailer
Five years of doing action on television well over a decade ago haven’t waned on actress Jennifer Garner. She’s back this Fall for upcoming STX Entertainment release, Peppermint, from none other than Pierre Morel back the helm and much to our delight judging by the official trailer now online. Peppermint is an action thriller which tells the story of young mother Riley North (Garner) who awakens from a coma after her husband and daughter are killed in a brutal attack on the family. When the system frustratingly shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerilla. Channeling her frustration into personal motivation, she spends years in hiding honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force – eluding the underworld, the LAPD and the FBI- as she methodically delivers her personal brand of justice. Garner is joined by John Ortiz, John […]
THE NEW MRS. KELLER: Pierre Morel To Helm Sci-Fi Thriller For Lakeshore
Taken helmer Pierre Morel is busy revving up Jennifer Garner headliner, Peppermint, for a September 7 release after Labor Day from STXfilms. In the meantime, the director is also on par to branch out to sci-fi with the Mark Hogan-scripted thriller, The New Mrs. Keller, for Lakeshore Entertainment. Set in the near future, smart, beautiful and sophisticated, Vera Keller is far more than she seems as she ensnares her husband, prominent surgeon Dr. David Keller, in a tense deception. Virtual reality intertwines with reality as David’s world unravels. Trade news is reporting that Lakeshore acquired the project in a bidding war late last year and will present the film to buyers at Cannes in May. Award-winning Danish actor Claes Bang (The Square) is currently cast as the male lead with further casting pending.
PEPPERMINT: Jennifer Garner To Return With A Vengeance In ‘John Wick’-Style Action Thriller
Taken and The Gunman helmer Pierre Morel is still slated to helm John Wick-style revenge thriller, Peppermint as announced back in May. That month also saw news of the film’s acquisition by Lionsgate for U.S. release and now word has it that the film is relocating to STX where it will brew with its newfound lead in actress Jennifer Garner (ABC series Alias, Daredevil, Elektra, The Kingdom). Chad St. John (The Punisher: Dirty Laundry – short, London Has Fallen) is penning the script which tells of a woman who awakens from a decade-long coma, and sets out on the 10th anniversary of the deaths of her husband and daughter to target those responsible: the gang that committed the act, the lawyers that got them off, and the corrupt cops that enabled the murderous incidents. Lakeshore’s Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi are producing the film which commences filming in the […]
‘John Wick’ Style Revenge Thriller, PEPPERMINT, Lands At Lionsgate
After snagging S. Craig Zahler’s Gibson/Vaughn headliner, Dragged Across Concrete, Lionsgate has reportedly snared itself the worldwide rights to Lakeshore Entertainment’s forthcoming revenge thriller, Peppermint. Pierre Morel is directing the film following his attachment to the project on May 3, and from a script by Chad St. John. When her husband and daughter are gunned down in a drive-by, the heroine wakes up from a coma and spends years learning to become a lethal killing machine. On the 10th anniversary of her family’s death, she targets everyone she holds responsible, the gang that committed the act, the lawyers that got them off, and the corrupt cops that enabled the murderous incidents. Production is being fast-tracked for the Fall riding a wave of buzz for the film’s liking to that of John Wick, something which is becoming more and more prolific these days for action titles. Time will tell if Morel’s […]
PEPPERMINT: Lakeshore Scores ‘Taken’ Helmer Pierre Morel To Direct The Female ‘John Wick’ Revenge Actioner
There’s no question that a film like John Wick has bolstered some really solid action films in the last few years – most notably its sequel and the inbound Atomic Blonde. Such is the hype now surrounding Lakeshore Entertainment who reportedly won a bidding war with seven figures for a new female-centric action thriller in the same vein titled Peppermint. London Has Fallen co-scribe Chad St. John wrote the script for which THR’s report shares a plot vague enough to leave you filling in some blanks: Peppermint is a revenge story centering on a young mother who, due to circumstances, finds herself with nothing to lose, and is now going to take from her rivals the very life they stole from her. Lakeshore’s Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright and Eric Reid are producing the film, thus adding to their arsenal of female-driven actioners which already include the Underworld franchise. Production […]
BIG STONE GRID Enlists Pierre Morel To Direct
It was back in 2012 that Collateral and Blackhat helmer Michael Mann was up to helm writer S. Craig Zahler’s speculative script, high-concept thriller, Big Stone Grid. Fast forward four years later and now we have news from Deadline that Pierre Morel will direct the film instead with Lotus Entertainment producing, financing and selling internationally. Filming locations are currently pending while the report tells of a story set in New York City where two detectives are swept into a cat-and-mouse game with serial killers who are, in turn, forced to commit heinous crimes. Zahler reached fan acclaim following his Fantastic Fest 2015 favorite, Western horror Bone Tomahawk, while adding a number of upcoming titles to himself direct as well, including Breaking The Empire State as of January and Vince Vaughn action pic, Brawl In Cell Block 99 as of April. His 2010 novel, Wraiths Of The Broken Land is up […]
Scott Eastwood To Shift Into OVERDRIVE
Transit helmer Antonio Negret has been tapped to set up-and-coming actor Scott Eastwood for a lead role in the new action film, Overdrive. The new film will take place in France with a script by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas that sets two car thief brothers spiriting away to the South of France for new opportunities only to end up in the throes of the local crime boss. THR reports the film has been developing for close to a decade now with several actors once poised for roles as well, including Alex Pettyfer and Matthew Goode. Taken and The Gunman helmer Pierre Morel will produce the film which international sales agent, Kinology, will begin shopping at the Toronto International Film Festival next week. Eastwood, taking after his father Clint Eastwood’s cinematic legacy, has already appeared in several notable titles, including The Longest Ride and David Ayer’s explosive war thriller, Fury. […]
THE GUNMAN Sees Red In Three New Character Posters
Director Pierre Morel‘s upcoming international actioner, The Gunman, is coming on March 20, and while the trailers have been nothing short of stellar, a few bits of poster art that have gone viral have been either hit or miss. This week, we finally have some more artwork to share via IMDb, which ought to help gain the film some more attention with the film now a month away from its release. The red ought to be of some use here. SYNOPSIS: An adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s “The Prone Gunman.” Sean Penn stars as Jim Terrier, an international operative who is betrayed by the organization he worked for, and must go on the run in a relentless game of cat and mouse across Europe. Also starring are Jasmine Trinca, Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance and Javier Bardem. Check out the posters just beneath the most recent trailer. H/T: City On […]
THE GUNMAN Fires Away With A New International Trailer!
Going into 2015, actor Sean Penn has seen some intense roles throughout his career, although it is safe to say that his latest in The Gunman will be one of his more stellar roles in recent years. A first trailer initially made its way to Yahoo! back in December showcasing a little of what’s in store for fans eager to see what Penn looks like while kicking his fair share of asses in this explosive follow-up to Taken (2008) director Pierre Morel‘s resume of hits, and frankly, the response has been unapologetically electric. This week however, we’re getting an international trailer courtesy of Studiocanal UK that illustrates the continuing energy charged in the new upcoming actioner. SYNOPSIS: Deadly professional assassin Martin Terrier returns to Paris after his latest job determined to get out of the game. Ten years ago he made a promise to return to his childhood sweetheart in […]
Watch Sean Penn Kill People And Blow Sh*t Up In The New Trailer For THE GUNMAN!
Clearly, director Pierre Morel hasn’t missed a step since directing films like Banlieue 13 and Taken. He knows how to hit all the right notes when it comes to making some really good movies with sharp leading characters and putting them at the center of solid action sequences with tasty results. Keep that in mind when checking out the latest trailer for his new film, The Gunman, inspired by author Jean-Patrick Manchette’s 1981 French novel. Here, lead actor Sean Penn takes point as a former soldier forced to kick ass one more time in order to save the woman he loves. It’s a role that stands out for Penn who rarely plays action-oriented roles, so you might understand how delightful it is to see him own it the way he does in this trailer. SYNOPSIS: Deadly professional assassin Martin Terrier returns to Paris after his latest job determined to get […]
THE GUNMAN Takes Aim With New Release Dates
Pierre Morel is one of my favorite directors, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that regard. The 2010 thriller From Paris With Love drew some mixed reactions, but Taken was a huge hit in 2008, preceeded by the popular parkour action favorite, Banlieue 13, so I’m more privy to believe that Morel‘s next, The Gunman, will further draw some positive impressions. To our good fortune, that day will come to North American theatergoers on February 20, 2015, following Open Road Films’ acquisition of the film’s U.S. rights from international sales agent, Studiocanal earlier this month. The film will also release in the U.K. the same day as North America, preceeded by its release in France on February 18, and subsequent release in Australia and New Zealand on the 19, with Germany opening the film on the 26. Based on the 2002 novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, Morel directs leading […]