Jacqueline Fernandez to star in UK-Canada thriller from James Simpson

Bollywood rising star Jacqueline Fernandez will play the lead in producer James Simpson’s directorial debut Definition of Fear, a UK-Canada thriller set to shoot this summer.

The £1.9m-budgeted thriller, written by Simpson, follows a group of girls on a secluded weekend away who are unwittingly filmed and terrorised by one of the girls as part of her university thesis. Simpson produces alongside an as yet unnamed co-producer.

According to Simpson the film is already 90% funded, with private backing from individuals in corporate finance, and will shoot in Canada, UK and New York. The UK shoot could take place at Wimbledon studios, where Simpson recently worked on UK comedy Run For Your Wife.

Simpson told Screen that he will use Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques to involve the audience in the film and said it was “probably the first time any film has taken this approach to enhancing entertainment”.

Sri Lankan-born actress and model Fernandez received an International Indian Film Academy Award and Stardust Award for Best Female Debut in 2010 for her role in Aladin.

Simpson is also producing an adaptation of Peter James’ novel Dead Simple, starring Hugh Bonneville. He was an executive producer on Michael Radford’s Merchant of Venice.