Egyptian multihyphenate Amr Waked (“Lucyâ€) has joined the cast of Gerard Butler sci-fi blockbuster “Geostorm,†in which he will play the French head of security at an international space station when the earth’s climate control satellites fail to function.
“Geostorm,†which is currently shooting in New Orleans, will mark the feature directorial debut of Dean Devlin, who teamed with Roland Emmerich to produce 1996’s “Independence Day.†Devlin’s Electric Entertainment is producing with Skydance Productions. Key American cast besides Butler includes Katheryn Winnick, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia and child actor Sterling Jerins.
Warner Bros. has slated the sci-fi action thriller, centered on catastrophic climate change that endangers the world’s survival, for release on Oct. 21, 2016.
Waked’s character in “Geostorm,†is named Ray Dussette, an intimidating and rugged security expert with little patience for error and stupidity who works hard to keep everyone safe, according to pic’s publicity notes.
Waked, who is Egypt’s biggest international star, played the bemused French narcotics cop in “Lucy†and more recently appeared as an advisor to Mongol King Kublai Khan in TWC/Netflix TV series “Marco Polo.†His previous roles include star turns in “Syriana,†“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,†and the BBC’s “House of Saddam†mini-series.
Waked is a political activist and producer via his ZAD production shingle which sheperded fellow Egyptian director Ibrahim El Batout’s Cairo-set organ trafficking thriller “El Ott,†in which he stars as a gangster searching for his kidnapped daughter. “El Ott†recently launched in Egypt and other Middle East territories via Falcon and is seeking distribution in Europe.