Foresight Unlimited announced today that Toby Kebbell (Ben-Hur) will star in Rob Cohen’s (The Fast and the Furious) upcoming action thriller Category 5, which is based on a script by Scott Windhauser and Rob Cohen. Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin, Michael Tadross Jr., Danny Roth, and Rob Cohen will produce. Foresight Unlimited’s Mark Damon and Tamara Birkemoe will executive produce and are handling foreign sales at Cannes.
Additional casting is currently underway, with production slated to begin in August 2016. Category 5 follows a team of tech hackers who infiltrate a U.S. Mint facility on a small coastal town in a $200M heist, just as a disastrous Category 5, the storm of the century, is about to strike and level it to the ground. The only other two people left in the town, a meteorologist, a hurricane chaser, and a woman treasury agent must survive the horrific storm while stopping the thieves from getting away with the heist of the century.
Foresight’s Mark Damon said: “Toby is a fresh talent and rising star. This is the perfect time for him to be taking the lead in such an adrenaline-pumped action film, having just wrapped big budget studio pics. We look forward to watching him continue to gain momentum with ‘Category 5.’”
Kebbell was last seen in Fantastic Four and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for 20th Century Fox. His upcoming credits include: Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ Kong: Skull Island for Warner Bros.; J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls for Focus; Timur Bekmambetov’s Ben-Hur for Paramount Pictures and MGM; Duncan Jones’ Warcraft for Universal Pictures; and Stephen Gaghan’s Gold for TWC. Kebbell is represented by CAA and Independent Talent Group.
Cohen takes on the action-film having risen to prominence through previous directorial roles including The Fast and the Furious starring Vin Diesel and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor starring Brendan Fraser for Universal; xXx starring Vin Diesel for Columbia Pictures; and Alex Cross starring Tyler Perry for Summit Entertainment. He most recently directed The Boy Next Door starring Jennifer Lopez for Universal Pictures, and will direct The Adventures of Marco Polo for Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman at Paramount Pictures.
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)
