‘The Beast’s Renny Harlin & Keith Kjarval Reteaming On Action Thriller ‘Athina’

EXCLUSIVE: Keith Kjarval and Renny Harlin, the producer and director of the upcoming The Beast, have set another feature collaboration in Athina, an action thriller to shoot in Europe next spring.

Written by Kjarval, who produces via his Unified Pictures banner, the film sees two estranged brothers descend into Athens’ criminal underworld in search of a missing young woman. In the process, the pair get caught between two powerful families and the violent past that once tore them apart.

Kjarval and Harlin’s current film The Beast stars Samuel L. Jackson as a U.S. President who must unlock the offensive capabilities of his armored presidential car in a bid to save an injured Secret Service Agent, played by Joel Kinnaman, along with the world. Aura Entertainment locked down U.S. rights at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and will release the film in theaters on Friday.

Finnish filmmaker Harlin’s recent credits include the shark thriller Deep Water, starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley, and Lionsgate’s horror trilogy The Strangers. Also known for titles like The Bricklayer and Cliffhanger, he is repped by M3 Global Strategy.

Kjarval is in post on The Swimming Lesson, with Heidi Gardner and William H. Macy, while prepping The Smack with David M. Rosenthal set to direct. Otherwise known for work on films like Dragged Across Concrete, What They Had and Rudderless, he is repped by attorney Elsa Ramo.