EXCLUSIVE: Malin Akerman (Watchmen) and Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight) are set to lead spy thriller Spymasters from writer-director Lance Kawas.
Bleiberg Entertainment has boarded worldwide rights to the film ahead of the Cannes market with filming due to begin in the U.S. at the end of the summer.
Described as a throwback to the “high-stakes erotic thrillers of the ’90s, coupled with modern action and intensity”, the film centers on a CIA operative (White) assigned to surveil and possibly eliminate a former lover (Akerman), a dangerous and enigmatic figure within the agency known for her psychological prowess and covert influence over the world’s elite.
Pic is produced by Asif Akbar, Colin Bates, Jon Keeyes, Demetrius Stear, Mandi Murro, and Lance Kawas for Whispered Insanity the Movie, LLC, with executive production by Fadi Assaf for FilmLens. Ehud Bleiberg, Ariel Bleiberg and Nicholas Bennett from Bleiberg Entertainment has also come onboard as executive producers. Casting was led by Gabrielle Almagor for Urban Tales.
Negotiations were handled by Nicholas Bennett on behalf of Bleiberg Entertainment.
“We’re excited to make the film and work with these actors,” said Lance Kawas and Asif Akbar. “We loved the idea of making a film like this that hearkens back to the old school high-stakes sexy thrillers of the 90s like Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction but with a touch of more action and intensity.”
“We’re thrilled to be representing this film. To have this cast portraying the two classic tropes of the cunning femme fatale and the hardened CIA assassin and watch them realize they still have feelings for one another while each is trying to outsmart and outmaneuver and ultimately defeat the other. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” added Ariel Bleiberg, Head of Acquisitions and Development at Bleiberg.
