Millennium Media has begun filming on the long-gestating sword-and-sorcery feature Red Sonja, adapted from the comic book series and starring Matilda Lutz as Red Sonja.
The ensemble cast also includes Wallis Day, Robert Sheehan as Draygan, Michael Bisping as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak and Eliza Matengu as Amarak. M.J. Bassett will direct; Joey Soloway, who was initially set to helm the project, will get an executive producer credit.
Hannah John Kamen, who was to have played the lead role of Red Sonja, has stepped aside due to scheduling conflicts. The film is being produced initially at the Bulgarian Nu Boyana Studio, with additional shoots set for Greece.
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Red Sonja is based on the comic book of the same name from Dynamite Entertainment.
“I’ve wanted to make a Red Sonja movie since I was a teenager — she has been a powerful presence for me and a character that I have always wanted to bring to the screen with my own voice and vision. When I met Matilda Lutz, I knew she had all the magic I was looking for and could see the complexity and depth she would bring to Sonja,” M.J. Bassett said in a statement.
Millennium Media president Jeffrey Greenstein underlined the long travails in getting Red Sonja from script to screen. “M.J. is an amazing filmmaker with fantastic vision and Matilda was absolutely brilliant in Revenge that we knew she was right for this role the moment we saw her — making them the perfect duo for Red Sonja,” he said.
Lutz’s recent projects include Paramount Pictures’ Zone 414 and Neon’s Revenge. Bassett’s projects include Solomon Kane, starring James Purefoy; Lionsgate’s Endangered Species; Rogue, starring Megan Fox; and episodes of Freeform’s Motherland: Fort Salem.
Producers include Mark Canton, Courtney Solomon, Luke Lieberman, Les Weldon, Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Yariv Lerner and Joe Gatta. Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, and Boaz Davidson are also among the executive producers.
