Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to star in the thriller "Last Flight", in which he will portray a U.S. man who helped persecuted people find safe passage out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
BAFTA-winner British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari (Under The Shadow) is directing the movie, which is based on a script by one of the inspirations of the project, Kirk Wallace Johnson.
Johnson is an author and former USAID (United States Agency for International Development) coordinator who assisted in the reconstruction of Fallujah in Iraq, and the founder of the List Project, a charity resettling Iraqis who assisted the allies in the war. After returning from Iraq with PTSD, he worked closely with Senator Ted Kennedy to create the Special Immigrant Visa program, designated for Iraqis and Afghans who worked for the U.S. during the conflicts.
Johnson’s script “unfolds over the final days of a twenty-year war. The film follows Ali, a young Afghan man, who is fighting for his entire family’s life to find safe passage out of Afghanistan, before he is sent to certain death. To reach the border, he must put his trust in Kirk Johnson, an American stranger 7,000 miles away who is desperately trying to put the war behind him.”
Principal photography is being lined up for May 2026 in the UK, Morocco, and Jordan.
The project is produced by Two & Two (I Came By) and Cumberbatch’s SunnyMarch (We Live In Time); Lucan Toh and Babak Anvari are producing for Two & Two, and Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland are producing for SunnyMarch.
The "Imitation Game" and "Doctor Strange" star Cumberbatch will also serve as an executive producer for SunnyMarch and Dave Bishop, George Hamilton and James Pugh from Protagonist Pictures will also serve as executive producers.
WME Independent is co-representing U.S. distribution rights with UTA.
Follow the latest news on Google News
