A dashing Benedict Cumberbatch walks the red carpet. The actor plays the Necromancer and also voices the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
LONDON – Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of TV’s Sherlock, is attached to star in Blood Mountain, a thriller to be directed by Sergei Bodrov.
The movie follows a private military contractor whose special forces team is ambushed and killed during a covert raid, forcing him to personally escort one of the world’s most wanted terrorists over hostile terrain in order to bring him to justice. With a bounty at stake and insurgents and rival mercenaries hunting them, the two find themselves facing not only their enemies but also each other in their fight for survival.
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The project is aiming to get on buyers’ watch lists at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.
U.K. banner Altitude Film Sales will hawk the project to international buyers, and UTA Independent Film Group has North American rights.
Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction), Nicola Horlick and James Gibb will produce the Jonathan W. Stokes-penned script, which had revisions by John Romano.
Principal photography is slated to begin in April in Morocco.
Shaun Redick exec produces alongside Rachel Green of Derby Street Films and Brooklyn Weaver of Energy Entertainment.
Silver Reel will finance the film, with executives Claudia Bluemhuber and Ian Hutchinson also serving as exec producers on the project.
Skady Lis of Germany’s Getaway Pictures will serve as a co-producer on the film.
UTA Independent Film Group helped arrange financing for the project.
