‘MR-9: Do Or Die’ Starring Frank Grillo, Michael Jai White & ABM Sumon Acquired By Premiere — Cannes Market

Filmmaker Asif Akbar directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Nazim Ud Daula and Abdul Aziz. The film is based on the popular spy thriller novels by the late Bangladeshi writer Qazi Anwar Hussain. Hussain published 550 novels in the series, which was modeled after the James Bond series. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we understand Sumon plays the lead character Masud Rana, a secret agent under the codename MR-9 for the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency.

Bangladesh-based Jaaz Multimedia, Al Bravo Films, and Chasing Butterflies Pictures have teamed up for the production in association with The Film Post. Executive producers are Niko Foster, Peter Nguyen and Phillip B. Goldfine. The pic is currently in post-production and was shot last summer across Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Additional cast includes Grillo’s son Remy Grillo, who makes his acting feature debut, Sakshi Pradhan, Niko Foster, Omi Vaidya, Oleg Prudius, Jackie Siegel, Anisur Rahman Milon, and Shahidul Alam Sachchu.

Premiere CEO and president Elias Axume negotiated the deal with producers Bravo and Akbar.

Premiere is currently shopping the film at the Cannes market, which draws to a close this week. The company’s wider sales slate includes Ruthless with Dermot Mulroney, Palido with Kellan Lutz, Indonesian superhero blockbuster Sri Asih, teen comedy Sid Is Dead, military action thriller Warhorse One, action western Taken from Rio Bravo, TIFF premiere Nightalk, and murder mystery What Remains with Kellan Lutz and the late Anne Heche.