EXCLUSIVE: StudioCanal takes UK rights to Takashi Miike’s Yazuka thriller from QED.

StudioCanal has pounced on UK rights to QED International’s buzzed-about thriller The Outsider, set to star Tom Hardy.

The project is one of the most in-demand among buyers at the AFM and QED is in discussions to close a number of deals at the market.

Takashi Miike will direct the script about an American former soldier in post-WWII Japan who rises through the ranks of a Yakuza crime family.

Principal photography is due to get underway in Japan in early 2014 on the film which is financed and produced by Worldview.

The screenplay comes from Andrew Baldwin from an idea by Linson Entertainment’s John Linson.

John Linson is producing with Art Linson, Worldview’s Christopher Woodrow and Molly Conners and QED’s Bill Block.

Worldview’s Maria Cestone and Sarah E Johnson will serve as executive producers with Anton Lessine and Sasha Shapiro.

CAA represents domestic rights.