DUBAI: The acting gigs keep rolling in for Sofia Boutella. The French-Algerian actress has just secured another role in a major production with Netflix’s “Rebel Moon,” a sci-fi film from American film director Zack Snyder.
Snyder, who signed an overall deal with the streaming giant, is moving fast to get his first project for Netflix underway and has cast Boutella to play the lead in his upcoming film.
According to Deadline, the “300” director had been meeting with female talent for months for the lead role and recently cut it down to a small group of actresses, which included Boutella, to audition for the role. The report said that the “Atomic Blonde” star wowed Snyder and a decision came fast to make her the lead.
The publication added that after Snyder met with Boutella he was “blown away” and realized that the 39-year-old needed to be cast as the lead actress.
While as yet there are no specific details of Boutella’s character, the movie, which has been written by Snyder, Shay Hatten, and Kurt Johnstad, is about a peaceful space colony that finds itself threatened by tyrannical armies. The colony dispatches a young woman with a mysterious past (Boutella) to recruit warriors from neighboring planets to help them take a stand against the invading forces.
Sharing a photo of the Deadline news article on Instagram, Boutella said: “Such an honor to be joining genius Zack Snyder on his new epic journey. Can’t wait.”
It will not be the first time Boutella has taken on the role of a sword-wielding extraterrestrial. The actress, who fled to Paris in 1992 during the Algerian civil war at age 10 with her family, is known for her breakout performance in the Oscar-nominated film “Star Trek: Beyond” where she portrayed a fierce alien warrior named Jaylah.
Born in Bab El Oud, a neighborhood of Algiers, the dancer-turned-actress rose to prominence for her breakout role in the hit franchise film “The Kingsman,” which would lead to starring roles in “The Mummy” with Tom Cruise, “Atomic Blonde” alongside Charlize Theron, Ramin Bahrani’s “Fahrenheit 451,” and Wyatt Rockefeller’s feature debut “Settlers.”
The actress just wrapped up the filming for “SAS: Rogue Heroes,” a six-parter from “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight and is set to begin shooting horror flick “Cuckoo” and sci-fi comedy “Alpha Gang,” which are both in the pre-production phase.
