Drunken Birds actor Marine Johnson and Italys Luca Colucci have nabbed lead roles in Kim Nguyens The Hourglass suspense drama, which has started production in The Canary Islands in Spain.

Johnson will play Edith Blais and Colucci is Luca Tacchetto, two travel companions who were kidnapped and held captive by a terrorist group in Mali for 465 days, before a near-suicidal escape. Nguyen adapted a book written by Blais, The Weight of Sand: My 450 Days Held Hostage in the Sahara, which detailed their time in captivity.

Also written by Nguyen, The Hourglass as a Canada-France co-production is the directors ninth feature, and follows his Silver Bear winner in Berlin, War Witch, Two Lovers and a Bear, which bowed in Cannes; Eye on Juliet, which earned the European Critics Award in Venice; and The Hummingbird Project, which starred Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard as New York cousins who go up against Salma Hayeks high-frequency trading tycoon and debuted in Toronto. The feature will also shoot in Morocco and Montreal through to mid-May. The ensemble cast includes Diouc Koma, Mouloud Ayad, Marianne Fortier and Jean Bui.

We cant wait for audiences everywhere to discover the talent of Luca Colucci, a Swiss actor of Italian origin whose presence transcends the screen. The chemistry and connection between him and Marine Johnson captivated us from the very first tests. Their shared energy is incomparable and reveals the full intensity of the experience Edith and Luca lived through, Pierre Even, who produces the movie for Montreal-based Item 7 and will shop the project in Cannes to international buyers, said in a statement. Jerome Vidal of Noodles Production is the French co-producer.

Edith Blais after visiting the set in the Canary Islands added in her own statement: I came here to advise and help, but I also felt that people took care of me and offered me something beautiful. Im extremely thankful to the whole team. In fact, I feel that I did contribute something, but in a more abstract way than what I expected. Perhaps a face to the story, an energy Im not sure I know how to explain it. This week will remain etched on my heart. It brought me some sort of comfort. The impulse life follows is very mysterious.

The Hourglass will be theatrically released in Canada by Les Films Opale and Entract Films in 2027.

Luca Colucci in The Hourglass Item 7