EXCLUSIVE: Luther and Hobbs & Shaw star Idris Elba is set to star in, produce and direct action-thriller Infernus, which Millennium Media will also produce and shop at next week’s Cannes market.
Elba will play Donovan Kamara, a U.N. human rights activist sent to investigate reports of refugees being illegally detained inside a U.S. black site prison. A seemingly simple task turns deadly when the world’s most dangerous inmates break free. Kamara must work to safely extricate the refugees, all while going head-to-head with a brilliant criminal mastermind.
Based on a story by Tom Boyle and screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, the film is due to go into production on October 9th in London.
While most filming will be done in London, additional principal photography will take place in the new TD Akuna Studios in Ghana, a venture Elba — who has both Ghanaian and Sierre Leonean lineage — and partners Tony Tagoe and Danny Damah developed in order to help build the region’s film industry.
Elba is set to produce under his banner of Green Door Pictures, along with Millennium Media’s Jeffrey Greenstein, Les Weldon, Jonathan Yunger, and Yariv Lerner, Sprout Pictures’ Gina Carter, and Archery Pictures’ Kris Thykier. Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, and Tanner Mobley from Millennium are executive producers.
Infernus marks Elba’s second film in the director’s chair following 2018 feature Yardie, which debuted at Sundance.
Elba said: “I’m excited to be back in the director’s chair, partnering with Millennium Media. Infernus is a gripping thriller with a relevant and intimate human story at its core. Thanks to the brilliant writing of Robert and Tom, we have some exceptional characters. I’m really looking forward to this opportunity both in front and behind the camera, filming across Europe, as well as bringing our production to Africa, which has an emerging film community that we are proud to be supporting.”
“It’s with great pleasure that we have the opportunity to create an entertaining and action-packed film alongside Idris, who in addition to being incredibly talented, is such a genuine and profound individual,” added Jeffrey Greenstein, President at Millennium Media. “We look forward to delivering a high-octane popcorn film that has character and soul, as well as an underlying message about the call for higher standards for mankind.”
Elba will next be seen starring in Apple’s thriller series Hijack and is currently in production on Amazon’s Heads Of State with John Cena and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Expendables and The Hitman’s Bodyguard outfit Millennium is in production on a Hellboy reboot.
Elba is represented by The Artists Partnership. Tom Boyle is represented by Luke Speed at Marjacq. Robert Mark Kamen is represented by A3 Artists Agency and Jacobson, Russell, Saltz, Nassim & De La Torre.