The "Idris Elba vs. a man-eating lion" survival thriller Beast is currently filming in South Africa, and Deadline has learned that Elba is joined in the cast by popular South African actor Sharlto Copley, who made his feature debut in Neill Blomkamp's District 9 and has since had roles in the likes of The A-Team, Elysium, Maleficent, Chappie, Hardcore Henry, Free Fire, and the TV series Powers.
Directed by Baltasar Kormakur (Contraband) from a screenplay by Ryan Engle (Rampage), Beast finds Elba taking on the role of Dr. Nate Samuels,
a recently widowed husband who returns to South Africa where he first met his wife on a long-planned trip with their daughters to a game reserve. But what begins as a journey of healing jolts into a fearsome fight for survival when a lion, a survivor of blood-thirsty poachers who now sees all humans as the enemy, begins stalking them.
Copley is playing Nate's old friend Martin Battles. Also in the cast are Iyana Halley (The Hate U Give) as Nate's 18-year-old daughter Meredith and Leah Sava Jeffries (Empire) as his 13-year-old daughter Norah.
A collaboration between Universal, Will Packer Productions, Known Associates Entertainment, and South Africa's Department of Trade Industry and Competition, Beast is in the midst of a 10 week shoot in the rural provinces of Limpopo and Northern Cape in Cape Town. Will Packer is producing the film with James Lopez, while Jaime Primak Sullivan and Bernard Bellew serve as executive producers.
Beast is heading toward an August 19, 2022 release date.
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