Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley star in Renny Harlin’s ‘Deep Water’ for Simmons/Hamilton Productions
Arclight Films has announced that Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley star in Renny Harlin’s survival thriller Deep Water, which is in post. Arclight continues worldwide sales at EFM this week.
The first feature greenlit by the stand-alone label Simmons/Hamilton Productions wrapped at the end of last year in New Zealand and Spain.
The lead cast includes Molly Wright (Lionsgate’s upcoming The Best Christmas Pageant Ever), Angus Sampson (FX’s Fargo), Kelly Gale (Lionsgate’s Plane), Li Wenhan from Chinese-Korean K-Pop group UNIQ, and Chinese actress Nashi (Creation Of The Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms).
Harlin, whose credits include Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea, and the upcoming The Strangers: Chapter 1, directs from a screenplay by Pete Bridges and John Kim.
Deep Water follows an eclectic group of international passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai who must overcome their differences and work together to survive after it makes an emergency landing in shark-infested waters.
Eckhart earned a Golden Globe nomination for Thank You For Smoking and received an Independent Spirit Award for In The Company Of Men. His credits include The Dark Knight, Sully, Midway, Erin Brockovich, and Bleed for This.
Kingsley won the Oscar for Gandhi and earned three additional nominations for Bugsy, Sexy Beast and House Of Sand And Fog. He has also starred in Shutter Island, Schindler’s List, Hugo, Iron Man 3 and most recently Daliland and Jules.
The film is the first to be greenlit by Simmons/Hamilton Production, the stand-alone label launched in Cannes last year by Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons and Arclight Films chairman Gary Hamilton.
The producers roster includes Arclight Films’ Ying Ye, Gabba Post’s Neal Kingston, Aristos Films’ Grant Bradley and Dale Bradley, and Nostromo Pictures’ Adrian Guerra and Xavier Parache.
Brian Beckmann and Ryan Hamilton of Arclight Films serve as executive producers alongside Vladimir Artemenko from Top Film Distribution, and Rob Van Norden and Johanna Harlin.
“Deep Water offered me an epic canvas to work on, which I’ve dreamed of since seeing the original The Poseidon Adventure in a movie theatre as a kid in Finland,” said Harlin.
“My superb cast stood by my side valiantly through a rigorous shoot of barrel rolling planes, tidal waves of water and ferocious sharks. This film is my tribute to all the action, imagination, emotion and beauty that made movie making the first love of my life. I can’t wait to show the audiences around the world what an emotional rollercoaster we have created.”
“Fortune has smiled on us and we are delighted to be working with some of the most talented and creative individuals in the world from New Zealand, Australia, and Spain,” said Hamilton. “We have such a superb ensemble cast led by the talented Aaron Eckhart and Sir Ben Kingsley. With action maven Renny Harlin at the helm, Deep Water is a non-stop thrill ride for the ages, with depth, emotion…and sharks!”
“I am pumped and excited to be launching Deep Water as our first project together with Gary Hamilton and the team at Arclight Films,” said Simmons. “Director Renny Harlin is bold and fearless and is truly in his element in this intense and suspenseful survival thriller – it’s a high-octane, seat-of-your-pants adventure that audiences love.”
New Zealand producers Grant and Dale Bradley added that they expected Deep Water to become “a great action classic”.
Arclight Films’ current sales slate includes upcoming Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canadastarring Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli and Jacob Elordi; Stefan Ruzowitzky’s thriller Ice Fall starring Joel Kinnaman and Cara Jade Myers; Assassination with Viggo Mortensen, Al Pacino, Shia LaBeouf and John Travolta; and the comedy Arthur’s Whisky with Diane Keaton, Patricia Hodge and Lulu.
Eckhart is represented by CAA and Hirsch, Wallerstein, Hayum, Matlof & Fishman; Kingsley by CAA, ITG and Rick Genow; and Wright by Crimson Media and Industry Entertainment.