French filmmaker Pierre Morel, whose credits include Taken, is to direct Kate Beckinsale in spy thriller Canary Black for Anglo-French producer and financier Anton.

It is produced by Anton’s Sebastien Raybaud and John Zois with Sentient Entertainment’s Renee Tab and Christopher Tuffin. Anton is fully financing and overseeing development and packaging of the feature.

Anton will launch worldwide sales at Cannes. UTA Independent Film Group will oversee domestic rights in conjunction with Anton.

Principal photography on the feature starts in late 2022.

A top level CIA agent, Avery Graves (Beckinsale), is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband, and finds herself turning to underworld contacts to survive.