Guillaume Canet Stars in New French Netflix Thriller ‘Ad Vitam’

French actor Guillaume Canet is starring, writing and producing the new Netflix thriller Ad Vitam.

Rodolphe Lauga (It’s Complicated) is directing the action film, which has begun shooting in Paris. Netflix will release the movie worldwide next year.

Canet plays Franck Lazareff who, after surviving an attempt on his life, finds his wife has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. Trying to rescue her, Frank finds his past catching up with him. Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti co-star.

Canet and Lauga co-wrote the script to Ad Vitam in association with David Corona and Canet is producing, together with Jean Cottin for the Cabanes shingle.

Canet recently directed himself as Gallic comic book hero Asterix in the live-action feature Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom and appeared in the French thriller Breaking Point. from director Yvan Attal. The multi-hyphenate has directed several films, including the 2006 crime thriller Tell No One and the 2010 dramedy Little White Lies.

Netflix is doubling down on the action and thriller genres as it builds up its originals slate in France. Alongside Ad Vitam, the streamer is producing a remake of the 1953 French action classic The Wages of Fear with writer/director Julien Leclercq (Ganglands, Earth and Blood) starring Franck Gastambide, Alban Lenoir, Ana Girardot and Sofiane Zermani; and have tapped top stunt coordinator Olivier Schneider (Fast X, Moon Knight) to direct GTMax, a crime actioner featuring Ava Baya as a former motocross prodigy.

Xavier Gens (Hitman, Gangs of London), who helmed a few episodes of Netflix’s Lupin with Omar Sy, will direct his first feature for the streamer, an untitled genre movie starring Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) and set during the Paris Olympics this summer.