Entertainment One (eOne) has added Oscar winner Helen Mirren and Emmy winner Aaron Paul to the cast of the international thriller Eye in the Sky, starring Colin Firth, as reported out of Cannes where the film is up for sale.
Written by BAFTA winner Guy Hibbert (Five Minutes of Heaven) and set in the world of drone warfare, Mirren will play British military intelligence officer Colonel Michelle Madden, who is put in charge of a drone operation to capture a group of terrorists in Kenya. The mission changes when Madden realizes they are about to launch a deadly suicide mission with Paul playing the American drone pilot Steve Watts who is ordered to destroy their safe house before learning that there’s a nine-year-old girl outside that would die in the blast, causing upheaval up the chain of command. Firth plays a British politician involved in the debates over whether to take out the terrorist, and he also co-produces the film alongside Ged Doherty and Xavier Marchand.
Gavin Hood (Ender’s Game is attached to direct with production expected to begin in South Africa in September and eOne planning on selling the film at the Cannes market for U.S. distribution and in the territories outside the UK, Canada and others where eOne will distribute the film directly.
The official press release is below:
Entertainment One (eOne) and Colin Firth and Ged Dohertys Raindog Films are pleased to announce that Helen Mirren (The Queen, RED) and Aaron Paul (TVs Breaking Bad, Need for Speed) are confirmed to join Colin Firth in the upcoming EYE IN THE SKY. In this contemporary international thriller set in the shadowy world of remotely piloted drone” warfare, Mirren will star as Colonel Michelle Madden, a military intelligence officer in command of a top secret drone operation. Paul takes the focal role of American drone pilot Steve Watts.
As previously announced Firth, who is also attached as part of an ensemble cast, and Doherty will produce the film alongside Xavier Marchand who will oversee production for eOne, in close collaboration with eOnes SVP of Filmed Entertainment Benedict Carver. Academy Award winner Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Ender’s Game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is confirmed to direct.
Active sales negotiations are already well-underway for President Harold van Lier in Cannes where eOne Films International is launching sales of EYE IN THE SKY in the US, and in all territories outside of the UK, Canada, Benelux, Spain, and Australia/New Zealand, where eOne will directly distribute the film.
Written by BAFTA award-winner Guy Hibbert, this tense action thriller and profoundly moving morality tale centers around London-based Madden (Mirren), set to remotely command a top secret drone operation to capture a group of dangerous terrorists from their safe-house in Nairobi, Kenya.
The carefully planned mission suddenly escalates from a “capture” to a “kill operation when Madden realizes that the terrorists are about to embark on a deadly suicide mission, which would result in the catastrophic deaths of many innocent civilians. Meanwhile American drone pilot Steve Watts (Paul) is poised to destroy the safe-house when a nine year old girl enters the kill zone just outside the walls of the targeted house. With unforeseen collateral damage now entering the equation and with the volatility of the situation increasing with every second that passes, Madden must now pass the missions authority up the kill chain to politicians and lawyers, including British Foreign secretary James Willett, who must weigh both the legality and morality of action and inaction.
Production is expected to begin in South Africa on 12 September 2014.
(Photo Credit: Fayes Vision / SIPA / WENN.com)
