Credit: David Burlacu
Actor Lucien Laviscount (Netflix’s “Emily in Paris”, People We Meet on Vacation) is set to appear in Daisy Ridley action thriller, The Good Samaritan. Taken and Peppermint helmer Pierre Morel is directing from an original screenplay from Rambo: Last Blood screenwriter Matthew Ian Cirulnick.
Rounding out the cast are Josh Duhamel (Netflix’s “Ransom Canyon,” Shotgun Wedding, Transformers franchise) and Sharlto Copley (Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, Neil Blomkamp’s District 9). Cameras are set to roll this Fall.
In The Good Samaritan, when successful entrepreneur Dr. Rosalind Carver (Ridley) and her husband Matt (Laviscount) rescue a wounded man drifting off the coast of Indonesia, they’re oblivious that they’re stepping into a deadly conspiracy. Within hours, their yacht vanishes, Matt is abducted by a gang of ruthless pirates led by Langbore (Copley), and paradise becomes a trap. Imprisoned by corrupt officials, Rosalind crosses paths with Sean Fuller (Duhamel), a battle-hardened ex-mercenary with his own reasons for taking down the pirates. In a desperate race against time, Rosalind and Sean are forced into an uneasy alliance, fighting to save her husband and expose a global trafficking empire that eliminates anyone who tries to stop it.
Highland Film Group is on the market end of Toronto International Film Festival this month. The company announced today that it has locked distribution deals in key international territories in all media with rights sold to the following: Splendid Film for Germany, Vertigo Releasing for the UK, Key 2 Media for Spain, Blue Swan Entertainment for Italy, Three Lines Pictures for Benelux, Spentzos Film for Greece, Cinemundo for Portugal, Mediasquad for Eastern Europe, ATV for Turkey, Falcon Films for Middle East, Lionsgate for India, Prima Entertainment for Indonesia, MovieCloud for Taiwan, California Filmes for Latin America, VVS Films for Canada, Filmfinity for South Africa and PictureWorks for Airline Rights.
Mark Canton (300, “Power,” Den of Thieves) of Canton Entertainment is producing next to Oakhurst Entertainment (Canary Black, The Fix), Renee Tab (Freelance, Sound of Freedom) of Sentient Entertainment, and David Lipper and Bobby Daly of Latigo Films (The Fix, Not Without Hope, Neglected). Morel is exec producer, as are Matthew Ian Cirulnick, Ryan Winterstern, David Hopwood, Jeff Kranzdorf for Latigo Films, Ralph Brescia, Dorothy Canton for Canton Entertainment and Delphine Perrier and Arianne Fraser for Highland Film Group, with Canton Entertainment’s Karley Ferlic co-producing.
Highland Film Group is handling international rights to The Good Samaritan, continuing sales at TIFF. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are co-representing U.S. domestic rights. The film is financed by Robert MacLean for Tribune Pictures.
Highland’s current slate also includes Andy Tennant’s comedy The Fun Lady starring Jessica Alba; Nimród Antal’s sci-fi action thriller Bluefly starring Russell Crowe and Priyanka Chopra Jonas; Lisette Feliciano’s Iron Jane starring Eiza Gonzalez and Brandon Sklenar; Neil Burger’s action thriller Barracuda starring Anthony Mackie and Dafne Keen and Justin Chadwick’s action spy-thriller The Mark starring Jessica Alba, Tom Hopper and Elsa Pataky.