Simon West: Last News

Metro.co.uk.‘So we could do whatever we liked to it and it was only one take because once the plane starts moving, you can’t stop it. We had 200 stunt performers because everyone near it had to be a stunt performer, it couldn’t be extras. That’s when we had 17 cameras on it from every angle, because it could only happen once.

Con-Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider director Simon West will shoot his upcoming historic drama Antara in Saudi Arabia in the country’s growing production hub of Neom.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent British Hollywood director Simon West (“Con Air,” “Lara Croft:Tomb Raider”) is set to direct Saudi Arabia-set epic “Antara” that will be shot in Neom, the sprawling production hub in Saudi Arabia’s northwestern corner. The English-language blockbuster based on Arab history is the tale of Antara ibn Shaddad, a slave warrior who was propelled to mythical status in the sixth century after winning his freedom and becoming a beloved knight and a widely celebrated Bedouin poet in the region. “Antara,” which was announced during the Venice Film Festival – where there is a strong Saudi industry presence – is co-produced by Irish entrepreneur, writer and producer Alexander Amartei.

Rebel Wilson’s next project is eyeing the Cannes market.

EXCLUSIVE: Pitch Perfect and The Hustle star Rebel Wilson is set to star in action-comedy film  Bride Hard from director Simon West (Expendables 2) for a Cannes market launch. 

Naman Ramachandran After a blockbuster debut in 2022, the London Action Festival is set to return this summer for its second edition. The festival is timed to be squarely in the middle of the summer action movie season. This summer will see the release of “Fast X,” “Kandahar,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One” in the May-July time frame and the festival will unspool June 21-25. Highlights of the inaugural edition included The World’s Greatest Screening Ever… Probably! – an enhanced screening experience of “Die Hard” with director John McTiernan; a making of “Jurassic World Dominion” with an Academy Award-winning VFX panel presented by Proof Inc. and director Colin Trevorrow participating; exclusive previews of season 2 of Sky original “Gangs of London” with director Corin Hardy and MARV’s “School Fight” from stunt coordinator turned director Damien Walters; and screenings of “Predator” and “Con Air” followed by panels with directors McTiernan and Simon West.

EXCLUSIVE: With Berlin’s EFM market just a few weeks away, pre-sale packages are already starting to take shape. Here’s one of the first notable ones: two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (No Time To Die) has been set to star in action-comedy Old Guy.

Hollywood blockbuster Con Air - and hinted that he "wouldn't be against" making a sequel.The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider director is appearing at the London Action Film Festival this weekend to celebrate Con Air's 25th anniversary - and shared some behind the scenes stories about making the film.Con Air saw Nicolas Cage play released prisoner Cameron Poe in the hit 1997 film, who finds himself fighting to get home after the plane he is travelling on is hijacked by fellow prisoners on the flight.READ NEXT: Viggo Mortensen's brush with death as oxygen tank cut out during deep diving sceneSpeaking exclusively to Daily Star, Simon West said that "there's a million stories" behind the making of the film - and revealed some of the huge actors who originally auditioned for the roles - including Harry Potter icon Jason Isaacs and action star Jason Statham."Jason Statham came to cast when he was just starting out," said Simon," adding: "Lovely guy and I've worked with him on three films since then."Con Air's cast went on to include fellow Hollywood icons John Malcovich, Steve Buscemi and John Cusack opposite Nicolas Cage, with Simon saying he was "able to cast all my favourite indie actors from all my favourite small films."Describing them as a "joy to work with," Simon said: "Everybody was really top of their game and they're masters of their craft.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentBest-known for her action roles in “Skyscraper,” with Dwayne Johnson, and Simon West’s “Skyfire,” Asian star Hannah Quinlivan has joined director Jesse Atlas’s sci-fi feature “Soul Assassin.”The film’s ensemble cast also includes Bruce Willis (“Die Hard,” “The Sixth Sense”), Andy Allo (“Upload,” “Pitch Perfect 3”), Nomzamo Mbatha (“Coming2America,” “All About Love”), Dominic Purcell (“Killer Elite,” “Assault on Wall Street”) and Mustafa Shakir (“Cowboy Bebop,” “Emancipation”).Atlas’ feature debut, “Soul Assassin”is described as a female-led, mind-bending sci-fi thriller. In it, a female former black ops soldier joins an experimental drone warfare program to hunt down her husband’s killer.

Amazon Prime Video and RTVE have set Rodrigo Santoro (Westworld) and Alvaro Morte (Money Heist) as explorers Magallanes and El Cano in Simon West-directed series Boundless.

Naman Ramachandran Rodrigo Santoro (“Westworld”) and Álvaro Morte (“Money Heist”) will headline Amazon Prime Video and RTVE’s adventure drama series “Boundless.”British filmmaker Simon West (“Con Air,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”) will direct.The four-part series tells the story of the first sailing trip around of the world ever completed, in the year of the fifth centenary of the original expedition. Led by the Portuguese Fernando de Magallanes (played by Santoro), 239 sailors set sail from Cádiz, Spain, on August 20, 1519.

Richard Kuipers It’s no great leap forward in filmmaking, but the big-budget disaster movie “Skyfire” does prove that China is now capable of producing its own brand of utterly preposterous and enjoyably trashy popcorn entertainment for a global audience. This thrill-packed tale about an angry volcano wreaking havoc on thinly written characters at a luxury island resort plays like a souped-up and much better remake of Irwin Allen’s 1980 turkey “When Time Ran Out.” Starring a predominantly Chinese cast and energetically directed by British action specialist Simon West (“Con Air,” “The Expendables 2”), “Skyfire” did OK without setting the Chinese box-office alight in December 2019 release.

Rebecca Davis editorBritish Hollywood director Simon West has been ordered by a Beijing tribunal to return $200,000 in directors fees to Chinese firm Hongmaisui HMS Entertainment in a legal dispute over an unmade 2014 film.HMS filed the case with the Beijing Arbitration Commission back in 2016, after the production was derailed by difficulties in procuring a visa for West that left him unable to enter China for pre-production at the scheduled time. The commission issued its award decision in December 2019.As of late July, however, West — who is best known for U.S.