EXCLUSIVE: Gerard Butler is set to star in action pic Kandahar, which Capstone and CAA will launch sales for at the Cannes virtual market.
John Wick and Sicario firm Thunder Road is among producers with Ric Roman Waugh directing. Butler and Waugh teamed up last year on hit action pic Angel Has Fallen.
Waugh will direct from a screenplay he wrote with former military intelligence officer Mitchell LaFortune.
In the film, Butler will play Tom Harris, an undercover CIA operative working in the Middle East. An intelligence leak dangerously exposes his classified mission and reveals his covert identity. Stuck in the heart of hostile territory, Harris and his translator must fight their way out of the desert to an extraction point in Kandahar, Afghanistan, while eluding the elite special forces hunting them.
The film is being produced by Thunder Road Films’ Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, G-BASE’s Alan Siegel and Gerard Butler, and Capstone Group’s Christian Mercuri. Rob Moran will Executive Produce along with Brendon Boyea and Jonathan Fuhrman. Thunder Road acquired the original screenplay from LaFortune in 2016, which is based on LaFortune’s experiences at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan at the time of the Snowden leaks.
Capstone is co-financing the project and handling international sales. CAA Media Finance arranged the financing and is representing the film’s U.S. rights. Pic is due to shoot in the Middle East.
Kandahar marks a reunion for Butler, Waugh, and Iwanyk, who most recently teamed on STX’s upcoming thriller Greenland, set for a wide theatrical release this summer.
“It’s rare to find the combination of such undeniable talent like we have on Kandahar with Gerard, Alan, Ric and Basil. Add in an amazing action script and you have a feature film that sets the bar very high. I am delighted to work with the whole Kandahar team and to bring this film to the marketplace,” highlighted Mercuri.
“We are so thrilled to be able to bring the Greenland band back together again. Mitch’s script has always been a jewel in our slate, and to have this team bring it to life is a dream come true for us,” commented Iwanyk.
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