Richard Gere and Michelle Rodriguez have officially checked in to Left Seat.
The contained thriller, first announced as a Cannes market title year ago, is officially a go and began production this week in Munich, Germany at Bavaria Studios, shooting on a Volume stage.
In Left Seat, Rodriguez plays a pharmaceutical rep who must take control of a small charter plane when the pilot falls unconscious. From there, she must rely on the help of a man (Gere) over the radio who instructs her how to navigate a deadly storm and hopefully land the plane before it runs out of fuel. James Weber Brown has a small role in the film.
The feature is described as akin to 2013’s Locke, which starred Tom Hardy as a man in a car during the most difficult night of his life. In other words, it’s a chance to be a showcase for an actor who is largely onscreen alone.
Aerial exteriors were shot in South America in January in the Andes.
Ben Younger, known for directing the Miles Teller boxing drama Bleed for This, is helming the project and is bringing his expertise as a pilot to the film. He and screenwriter David M. Crabtree wrote the script, which Crabtree first penned in 2017 and brought to his former USC classmate Jason Michael Berman to develop.
Highest 2 Lowest producer Berman will produce via his A/Vantage pictures, along with Younger, Crabtree, Maximilian Leo and Jonas Katzenstein.
Executive producers are Matthew Lindner, Peter Guber, Jordan Moldo, Mike Downing, Daniel Sonnabend, Andrea Kuehnel and Joshua S. Siegel.
Left Seat marks the first collaboration for Gere and Rodriguez. Gere is among the stars of Paramount+’s The Agency: Central Intelligence, while Rodriguez was last onscreen as Letty in Fast X. She is expected to reprise the role for the upcoming Fast Forever.
In addition to A/Vantage, the companies involved include Mandalay Pictures and augenschein Filmproduktion, with the latter providing financing, along with Juniper Productions and StoneCastle Pictures. FFF Bayern and German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) are supporting the film, with Anton handling international sales, and WME Independent handling North American sales.
