As filming begins in Croatia for the action thriller Canary Black, the film's production has shared a first-look action-shot of Kate Beckinsale from the film, Deadline first reported. The shot shows a focused Beckinsale dressed in a leather coat as she seemingly flees from a building.
Starring Beckinsale and Rupert Friend, the action film is directed by filmmaker Pierre Morel and is adapted from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. It is co-produced by Sébastien Raybaud, John Zois, Carsten Lorenz, Renee Tab, and Christopher Tuffin. Morel is most well-known for directing the Taken franchise and the 2018 action film Peppermint. Producer, financier, and sales firm Anton holds the rights to the film at the moment, but will be selling the film at the American Film Market this week.
Canary Black tells the fictional story of Avery Graves (Beckinsale), a top CIA operative who is blackmailed by terrorists to betray her own country in order to save her kidnapped husband. As a result of her betrayal, she is cut off from her team and therefore protection, and must turn to underworld contacts in order to survive and acquire top secret intelligence that the kidnappers are demanding. As Graves races against the clock, she can only rely on her training and experience to deliver a ransom that could result in a global catastrophe. Beckinsale is an English actress who has starred in many action movies, including Underworld (2003), Van Helsing (2004), Pearl Harbor (2001), and Jolt (2021). She recently starred in the comedy El Tonto, and Catherine Hardwicke’s Prisoners Daughter, where Beckinsale stars alongside Brian Cox.
The film crew will be shooting in Zagreb, Croatia from October 21, 2022 to January 31, 2023. In addition to 18 roles played by Croatian actors, the production also includes 380 local film professionals and 1,200 extras. In an interview at the PROFilm Days, producer Carsten Lorenz described the filming process in Croatia:
“Half of the scenes will be shot in the exterior, which means we’ll have to block the traffic for longer periods of time, especially having in mind complex action scenes which require total control of the set. The filming was originally planned in Prague, but due to unforeseen difficulties we had to find a new location. Aiming for similar architecture, we were looking into Greece, Turkey, and Serbia. In the end we chose Croatia, a country with a rich experience in hosting big productions.”
A release date is yet to be announced for Canary Black.