Jason Statham is someone who is admirably unpretentious and genuinely grateful for his success, and within that, he has a definite preference of films that can predominantly define his career. Earlier this year, Statham was seen in The Beekeeper, a seemingly usual action B-movie fare with the star, but the movie from Suicide Squad director David Ayer would throw in some bold conceptual curve balls to the normal vengeance tale. Deadline has now reported that Statham will be working with director Baltasar Kormákur for his next action film.
Kormákur’s resume features such credits as Contraband, 2 Guns, Everest and the recent Idris Elba lion attack film, Beast. According to Deadline, “In the currently untitled pic, Statham will play Mason who lives in isolation in a remote Scottish island. When he rescues a young girl from the ocean in a terrible storm, he sets a chain of events in motion that brings a violent attack to his hideaway, forcing him back into the world to confront the ghosts of his past.” The movie will come from the company Black Bear and they will be introducing the film to buyers this week in Cannes and co-representing the U.S. rights alongside Range Select.
Ward Perry penned the script to the film. The producers on board will include Statham, who has produced Levon’s Trade, for Punch Palace Productions, Kormákur for RVK Studios, John Friedberg, who worked on the recent Guy Ritchie film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, for Black Bear and Jon Berg, whose credits include Wonder Woman, and Greg Silverman, who is the former President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production for Warner Bros. They are all producing the movie for Stampede Ventures, who developed the film. Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler are also on board to serve as executive producers for Black Bear.
The production of the untitled action film is scheduled to commence in November in the UK and Kormákur’s native Iceland. Production services and filming will take place at Kormákur’s RVK Studios facility in Reykjavik.
There hasn’t been confirmation yet, but Staham has also been set up in the last Fast & Furious movie to appear in the next installment as his character, Deckard Shaw, has been shown to gear up for a mission that involves Jason Momoa’s Dante and his ties to the Shaw mother played by Helen Mirren. He also recently signed on for the action-thriller Mutiny from Plane director Jean-Francois Richet, in addition to his upcoming re-team with Beekeeper director David Ayer for Levon’s Trade, which is written by Sylvester Stallone.