The actress will play a French journalist kidnapped in Afganistan in StudioCanal’s Forces Speciales.

StudioCanal production Forces Speciales has added Diane Kruger, Djimon Hounsou and Raphael Personnaz to its cast. The film, a chase thriller, will shoot in Kabul this summer.

The arrival of former Pathe executive Leonard Glowinski as head of French and European co-productions and acquisitions has infused StudioCanal’s French efforts with new blood that is resulting in an expansion of the company’s ambitions when it comes to French productions.

Glowinski tells Screen that while hewing to the regular stable of classic French StudioCanal directors such as Bertrand Tavernier and Daniele Thompson, the idea is to open an extra window onto edgy genre fare.

Although it will not be a propaganda film, Forces Speciales will have the support of the French army – but it will not be a “guy film,” says Glowinski. Director Stephane Rybojad will instead make a sort of Black Hawk Down with elements of a classic western. Kruger plays a French journalist who is kidnapped after uncovering dodgy dealings by a Taliban chief. The film is budgeted at roughly €10m with presales starting in Cannes.

Meanwhile, director Eric Valette will begin shooting La Proie (The Prey) next month with Albert Dupontel, Alice Taglioni and Andre Dussollier starring.

An action-thriller that begins in a prison, the film is produced by Brio Films and is the first co-production between StudioCanal and its German subsidiary Kinowelt. Development on an American remake is already underway.

Further, StudioCanal is developing a first film from director Jerome Legris which is a sort of Cluedo set in the opera world headlined by Inglourious Basterds star Melanie Laurent and a film from Sylvain Estibal called Cochon De Gaza which will endeavour to take a lighter look at the Palestinian conflict.

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