Killer Elite
Feature Film
Australian/NZ Release: 23 February 2012
Director: Gary McKendry
Genre: Action/Thriller
Run Time: 114 minutes
Producers: Michael Boughen, Sigurjon Sighvatsson,Tony Winley
Executive Producers: Christopher Mapp, Steve Chasman, Matthew Street, David Whealy, Peter D. Graves
Inspired by true events, Killer Elite is a new action-adventure spy film that follows Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile, Danny reassembles his crack team of operatives to execute a near-impossible mission of retribution – to rescue his former mentor and partner Hunter (Robert De Niro). Together they must penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS), to take down a rogue cell of soldier assassins and their leader Spike (Clive Owen) before their actions create a global crisis.
Killer Elite’s whirlwind journey of action hurtles across the globe: from Mexico to Australia, from Paris and London to Oman and Wales. The film is based on Sir Ranulph Fiennes controversial non-fiction bestseller The Feather Men.
Background
When a friend handed Gary McKendry a copy of the Fiennes book, The Feather Men, he had little idea that this would start him on a journey that would take almost seven years to come to fruition.
Having already produced a string of successful films including the Australian box office success Tomorrow When the War Began, Omnilab Media was developing a roster of new international films when Killer Elite came to their attention through producer Joni Sighvatsson and Executive Producer Steve Chasman.
Omnilab Executive Producers Christopher Mapp and Matthew Street were impressed with the passion of the producers and the creative take on the material by McKendry. Omnilab had also worked successfully before with Chasman and Jason Statham, on feature film The Bank Job.
Executive Producer Christopher Mapp says: “Having had such a success with Jason Statham and Steve Chasman on the film The Bank Job, we were looking for another great film to do together. We were excited about Gary’s passion and vision for the film, and when Jason confirmed he was committed to playing Danny we then began looking at securing the best actors to play the roles of Spike and Hunter, which turned out to be Clive Owen and Robert De Niro.”
Much of the casting came from Australia's talent pool, with Dominic Purcell, Yvonne Strahovski, Ben Mendelsohn, Aden Young, and up-and-coming talent Firass Dirani all taking key roles.