Milla Jovovich to Star in Action-Thriller "Protector"

Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) is attached to star in the Taken-esque action thriller "Protector".

Adrian Grünberg (Rambo: Last Blood, Get the Gringo) directs the pic from a screenplay by Bong-Seeb Mun. Production is slated to begin this winter in New Mexico. Highland Film is pitching to buyers at this year’s American Film Market.

The film’s logline sees Jovovich playing Nikki, a former war hero who believed she had left her violent past behind to raise her daughter, Chloe, in peace. When she wakes up in an abandoned factory and learns that Chloe has been kidnapped, Nikki has to navigate the city’s criminal underworld, pursued by both the cops and the military, to get her daughter back.

"Protector" is one of a slew of action projects heading to AFM this week as producers double down on a return to shoot-’em-up thrillers.

Kenneth Kim, Bang-Ok Joo, and Bong-Seeb Mun are set to produce for Aanaxion Studio alongside Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier for Highland Film Group. Martial artist and stunt coordinator Ho-Sung Pak (Transformers: Age of Extinction, Bullet Train) is also attached as a producer and the film’s stunt coordinator. 

Highland Film Group is co-financing the project and will handle worldwide rights.

Jovovich will next appear in Paul W.S. Anderson’s In the Lost Lands, alongside Dave Bautista. She is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, and Hansen Jacobson.4o mini. 

Highland Film Group’s current slate also includes Chuck Russell’s "Witchboard", Justin Chadwick’s "Sierra Madre", and Joe Carnahan’s "Not Without Hope".