Black Bear will be shopping the rights to Statham’s new movie at the European Film Market this year for distribution.
Statham would recently get promoted to the lead in the fourth Expendables film, which was directed by Scott Waugh. Now, Deadline reports that Statham will be working with the director’s brother, Ric Roman Waugh, whose credits include Greenland, Snitch and Angel Has Fallen. The film will be an action thriller that is currently untitled, but the film is now being said to be underway in the U.K. and Ireland for Black Bear. The company introduced the film to the Cannes market, co-representing the U.S. rights with Range Select, and plans to take it to the European Film Market.
The untitled action-thriller is based on a script by Ward Parry with revisions by Christian Contreras. Not much is known about the film, but the description of the movie’s plot says Statham “will play a man pulled back towards the ghosts of his violent past.” Statham will be supported by a cast that includes Bodhi Rae Breathnach (upcoming Hamnet), Oscar nominee Bill Nighy (Living), BAFTA winner Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice), and BAFTA nominee Daniel Mays (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Baltasar Kormakur was previously on board as the director but reportedly had to exit and Waugh is now confirmed to take his place.
Statham will produce the movie for Punch Palace Productions along with John Friedberg (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) for Black Bear, Brendon Boyea (Kandahar) for Cinemachine, and Jon Berg (Wonder Woman) and former WB exec Greg Silverman for Stampede Ventures. The executive producers on board will be Black Bear’s Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler.
Statham recently reunited with his Beekeeper director for the upcoming action film A Working Man. The plot for that film reads, “Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss’s daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.” David Ayer directs A Working Man, based on the novel Levon’s Trade by Chuck Dixon, from a screenplay he wrote with Sylvester Stallone.
