Open Road Films has acquired the North American rights to the action film Kandahar starring Gerard Butler. The thriller reunites Butler with his Greenland and Angel Has Fallen director Ric Roman Waugh. The duo are also in pre-production on the Greenland follow-up, Greenland: Migration.
“What made Mitch LaFortune’s visceral script so compelling and unique for me is its authenticity and how he humanizes not just our heroes, but all the characters portrayed in a region that’s been locked in a perpetual cycle of violence,” said director Ric Roman Waugh.
In addition to Gerard Butler, the cast includes Navid Negahban (Homeland), Ali Fazal (Death on the Nile), Travis Fimmel (Vikings), and Bollywood star Elnaaz Norouzi (Hello, Charlie!).
Commenting on the acquisition, Open Road Films’ Tom Ortenberg stated, “Kandahar is an adrenaline ride made for the big screen. Gerry, Ric, the G-BASE team, and Thunder Road have outdone themselves with this pulse-pounding actioner that our team is looking forward to bringing to audiences everywhere.”
Mitchell LaFortune co-wrote the screenplay with Waugh, based on LaFortune’s time serving as a military intelligence officer in the Snowden leak era. Scott LaStaiti, MBC Studios’ Ali Jaafar, Capstone’s Christian Mercuri, and Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Brendon Boyea produce. G-BASE’s Gerard Butler and Alan Siegel also produce, with James Masciello, Matthew Sidari, Tom Ortenberg, David Haring, Ruzanna Kegeyan, Andrea Dimity, Jonathan Fuhrman, Peter Smith, and Sam Barnett executive producing.
Shot in the AlUla region of Saudi Arabia, Kandahar features Gerard Butler playing undercover CIA operative Tom Harris who’s stuck in “hostile territory in Afghanistan. After his mission is exposed, he must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.”
Open Road Films is targeting a 2023 theatrical release.
