Marvel's "Thor" star Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon will team up as co-stars in a movie adaptation of "Horse Soldiers," a true story war drama set in the 9/11 attacks counter strike.
As Deadline reported, both actors have already enlisted to star in the war drama film based on the creation of the New York Times' best-selling author Doug Stanton, "Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan." The film recounts the story of a small troop of U.S. Special Forces who went on horses against the Talisban group. The soldiers together with the Northern Alliance warlord secretly infiltrated Afghanistan weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Outnumbered, the U.S. troop fought the terrorist group across the Afghanistan terrains, wherein after a continuous exchange of fires and intense battles, they finally captured Mazar-i-Sharif -- a city that was then considered essential to the troop's war strategy to defeat the Talisban. Taking over it gave the troop their biggest chance of winning their fight against terrorism.
The Danish and relatively new filmmaker-photojournalist Nicolai Fuglsig will take the task of directing the movie, making it his directorial debut. The Black Label Media signed to co-finance the project, Jerry Bruckheimer, Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill as the producers, screenplay by Peter Craig ("The Queen") and Ted Tally ("The Silence of the Lambs"). It was also reported that the movie project has been in the works for years (since 2009) now when Bruckheimer got the rights together with Disney.
Hemsworth has made his mark in Hollywood movies when two movie franchises -- "Thor" and "The Huntsman" -- he starred in found huge success. The Australian actor also proved his flexibility as he took supporting roles in comedy films "Vacation" and "Ghostbusters." Insiders also say that Paramount looks into having Hemsworth reprise his role as George Kirk in plans of creating "Star Trek 4." The actor is working on a sequel "Thor: Ragnarok" currently filming in Australia and is expected to reappear in "Avengers" sequel "Infinity War."
Meanwhile, Shannon is also working on several other projects, signing to replace Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie "The Current War" and is filming "The Shape of Water." The actor is tagged as one of the most watchable actors of the present day, with "Nocturnal Animals" and "Loving" adding to the list of must-watch films.
Start of production of the "Horse Soldiers" is still undecided, but reports say it is possible to push through with the early 2017 timeline.
