Los Angeles – Golden Globe® and Grammy® nominated actor, singer, and songwriter Nick Jonas (Jumanji franchise, Midway) and Academy Award® nominee Laurence Fishburne (Matrix franchise, John Wick franchise, Man of Steel, Mission: Impossible III) have signed on to THE BLACKSMITH, which Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios will finance and produce, it was announced today by Ford.
Pierre Morel (Taken) will direct the action thriller, which is adapted by screenwriter Ben Ripley (Source Code, Flatliners) based on the acclaimed graphic novel from Kickstart Comics by Malik Evans and Richard Sparkman. Along with AGC Studios, Jon Shestack (Air Force One) will produce with Kickstart Productions’ Jason Netter (Wanted), and Jeremy Stein, with AGC’s Ford and Linda McDonough executive producing. Samantha Shear and Bob Sobhani will also executive produce.
Wes Loomis (Jonas) is a “Blacksmith” – the intelligence community’s go-to weapons expert. When his clandestine lab is destroyed and his colleagues murdered, Wes must go on the run with only his unique set of technological skills and the help of a brilliant, young CIA analyst Noelle Hazlitt to keep him alive. They seek out Mather (Fishburne) a retired blacksmith and Wes’ mentor, to guide them on a journey that keeps this improbable pair one step ahead of their pursuers in a breathless, action-filled thriller that is just the beginning of the globe-trotting adventures of THE BLACKSMITH…
Said Ford, “The Blacksmith provides a fresh, highly contemporary new take on the espionage genre and it’s exciting to pair an exhilarating young talent like Nick with seasoned heavyweights such as Pierre and Laurence. We’ll soon be announcing an equally outstanding young female actor to play across from Nick and then we will have all the ingredients for a major new film franchise built around a very modern breed of action hero.”
Production on THE BLACKSMITH will commence later in 2020.
Nick Jonas was represented in the negotiations by WME and attorneys Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham LLP; Laurence Fishburne is managed by Helen Sugland of Landmark Artists Management, and was represented by Paradigm and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano; and Morel was represented by UTA, manager Renee Tab of Sentient, and Hansen, Jacobsen, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellmann LLP, with AGC’s VP of Legal & Business Affairs Anant Tamirisa negotiating on behalf of AGC.
The announcement comes on the heels of a busy production period for AGC. The indie studio has recently wrapped production on a host of film and TV projects, including Neil Burger’s young adult sci-fi thriller VOYAGERS, starring Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionn Whitehead, and Colin Farrell, which will be released in November via Lionsgate; Tate Taylor’s feature comedy BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY, starring Oscar® winner Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Regina Hall, Golden Globe® winner Awkwafina, and Wanda Sykes; revenge thriller THE SECRETS WE KEEP, starring Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman; and sci-fi television series WAR OF THE WORLDS, starring Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern, which premiered on EPIX earlier this year. AGC is also a partner with CNN Films on two upcoming documentary feature films: JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE, which will be released later this year via Magnolia and Participant; and LADYBOSS: THE JACKIE COLLINS STORY, which is in post-production. In addition, AGC is the international distribution partner on Roland Emmerich’s forthcoming sci-fi action epic MOONFALL; is in pre-production on horror thriller GEECHEE starring Andrea Riseborough; and on the television adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING for Amazon Studios.
