Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the Belgian filmmakers behind the recently shelved Batgirl movie, are teaming again with fellow director Mathieu Mortelmans for a series about the hunt for Islamic State terrorists in Belgium.
The trio plan to join forces on the series Terrorist Hunter, which is being developed by Brussels-based Versus Production. It based on the best-selling book by Lionel D. and Annemie Bulté, Terrorist Hunter - The Special Units And The Hunt For Abdeslam.
The book centres on events in 2015 in Belgium, when police special forces stormed a house where three terrorists were preparing an attack. The ensuing shootout came a week after the deadly Charlie Hebdo attack and foreshadowed a wave of terror that would later hit Belgium and France. The book was co-written by Lionel D., who spent 15 years with the federal police’s Special Operations Units, and takes the reader behind the scenes of the elite police unit.
The script adaptation of the book is being developed with three co-writers: Kevin Meul, Domenico La Porta and Benjamin Sprengers.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s credits include Bad Boys For Life and Rebel. Their most recent project, Batgirl, was a casualty of a new corporate strategy and cost cutting at recently merged Warner Bros. Discovery.
The duo previously worked with director Mathieu Mortelmans on Soil for Belgium’s Vier and Netflix. The series is about a young man who decides to import soil from Morocco, in which Muslims in Belgium can be buried, with unexpected consequences. Mortelmans’ credits also include Belgian cyber crime drama Unit 42.
Versus is a key player in Belgian cinema. In 2020, Versus was a co-producer of Syrian civil war drama No Man’s Land, produced action thriller Lost Bullet and psychological thriller Endless Night for Netflix and Bouli Lanners’ Scotland-set Nobody Has To Know. Versus is currently post-producing the first feature by the Academy Award nominated director Delphine Girard, Most Alive and Lost Bullet 2.
Filming on Terrorist Hunter is planned for 2024.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah said: “Together with former chief inspector Lionel D. of the Special Intervention Squadron, on whom the book is based, we want to give a human perspective on the lives of our special units, the events in Verviers and their hunt for Salah Abdelsam in the form of a raw, realistic, action thriller series.”
Mathieu Mortelmans added: “Collaborating with my friends Adil and Bilall felt really good from moment one. Pretty soon after “Soil,” we put our heads together to put our shoulders to the wheel on a new project. Our shared passion for the exciting and true story book Terrorist Hunter seemed like the ultimate opportunity to do so.”
Jacques-Henri Bronckart of Versus Production said: “With the opening of the trial of the terrorist attacks in Belgium, we are convinced that this well-known story must be told from a totally unknown point of view. Having the confidence of Lionel D, a former special police officer, is a great asset to dive into the reality of these men who are above all human beings and not totally prepared to face the consequences of this most bloody violence.”
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