Foresight Unlimited and Envision Entertainment, riding high on the number one North American release of 2 Guns, will finance and produce the $30m action film.

A Good Day To Die Hard director John Moore is on board The Englishman and will direct from a screenplay by William Wisher. Foresight will handle worldwide sales.

Foresight founder and head Mark Damon [pictured] will produce alongside James Gibb, Benedict Carver, Tim Peternel and Moore. Production is set for early next year in South Africa.

The Englishman is based on the book Once A Pilgrim by former SAS officer turned mercenary Will Scully and recounts the time he rescued innocent civilians trapped inside an African hotel during a coup.

London-based Derby Street Films developed the screenplay and the company’s Nicola Horlick and Rachel Green serve as executive producers with Shaun Redick, Ray Mansfield, Ash Shah, Chris Hanley, Peter Veverka, Foresight president Tamara Birkemoe and Envision’s Stepan Martirosyan, Vitaly Grigoriants and Remington Chase.

Previous Foresight-Envision collaborations include Lone Survivor, Spinning Gold and And So It Goes.