Mike Fleming

Owen Wilson The CoupEXCLUSIVE: Crime Scene Pictures has set Owen Wilson to star in The Coup, an action drama that that Devil helmer John Erick Dowdle will direct from a script he co-wrote with his brother Drew Dowdle. Crime Scene Pictures’ Adam Ripp and Rob Paris are financing and have teamed with Steve Alexander and Drew Dowdle to produce. Rizal Risjad and Philip Elway will executive produce. Filming begins in October in Southeast Asia. Sierra/Affinity will handle international sales, while CAA is representing U.S. rights. The film is described as an intense thriller centered on an American family that moves to Southeast Asia and finds themselves embroiled in a violent coup where rebels mercilessly attack the city. Wilson plays the father in a film that has the tone of Taken, and puts him in action mode for the first time since Behind Enemy Lines. Wilson’s repped by UTA.

“We love the relentless energy of the Dowdle Brothers’ script – and their vision for dropping Owen in the midst of the chaos is truly inspired,” said Crime Scene’s Ripp and Paris.

“When I first read the Dowdles’ screenplay, I was immediately taken with how strongly it taps into that primal fear which any parent can relate to, when it comes to the safety and protection of their family,” Alexander said. Wilson’s deal was brokered by UTA.

Crime Scene is separately producing the David Gordon Green-directed remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 psychedelic horror film Suspiria and they are in preproduction on the Joe Lynch-directed Everly, which will star Kate Hudson. CBS Films releases their first film, the Gambit remake scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen, with Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz starring.