Nick Jonas (Jumanji) and Laurence Fishburne (Matrix) have signed on to star in Pierre Morel (Taken) action-thriller The Blacksmith, which AGC is financing and producing.

Morel and Liam Neeson had enormous success with action franchise Taken. This time it will be Jonas with the very particular set of skills. The actor and singer will play Wes Loomis, a ‘Blacksmith’ – the intelligence community’s go-to weapons expert. When his clandestine lab is destroyed and his colleagues murdered, he 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 help guide them.”

Casting for the female lead Hazlitt is underway and AGC is aiming for a late 2020 production start on the movie which it hopes will be the start of a new action franchise.

Ben Ripley’s (Source Code) script is based on the 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 Stuart Ford and Linda McDonough executive producing. Samantha Shear and Bob Sobhani will also executive produce.

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.”

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.

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