Gerard Butler to Star in Action Thriller ‘Kandahar
Variety.com: Gerard Butler is set to reteam with “Greenland” and “Angel Has Fallen” director Ric Roman Waugh on action thriller “Kandahar.” CAA Media Finance is representing the film’s U.S. rights, and Capstone is handling international, and will present the project to buyers at the virtual Cannes Market.
Waugh will direct from a screenplay he wrote with former military intelligence officer Mitchell LaFortune, based on the latter’s experiences at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan at the time of the Snowden leaks.
Butler stars as 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, while eluding the elite special forces hunting them.
The film is being produced by Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee at Thunder Road Films, the producer of the “John Wick” and “Sicario” franchises, G-BASE’s Alan Siegel and Butler, and Capstone Group’s Christian Mercuri. Rob Moran will executive produce along with Brendon Boyea and Jonathan Fuhrman.
Principal photography will take place on location in the Middle East.
“Kandahar” marks a reunion for Butler, Waugh, Iwanyk and Siegel, who most recently teamed on STX’s upcoming thriller “Greenland,” set for a wide theatrical release. Waugh also directed Butler in “Angel Has Fallen,” the follow-up to “Olympus Has Fallen” and “London Has Fallen,” which have collectively earned nearly $400 million worldwide.
Waugh produced, wrote, and directed the harrowing prison thriller “Shot Caller,” starring “Game of Thrones’” Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. This followed him writing and directing the thriller “Snitch,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon. Prior to that, Waugh helmed “Felon.”
He also produced and directed the documentary “That Which I Love Destroys Me,” which follows two Special Forces soldiers as they grapple with PTSD on their return to the U.S.