Orlando Bloom will star alongside Ethan Hawke in The Last of the Tribe, a jungle thriller based on the novel by award-winning investigative journalist Monte Rille.
The film, directed by Claudio Borrelli (Vulture), also stars the previously announced Brazilian actress and environmental activist Zaya Guarani. Emmy nominee Mark Bailey, who wrote “Downfall” and “Volcano: Deliverance from Whakaari,” wrote the script.
The film is set in the Amazon rainforest and follows William Phelan (Hawke), a fallen Chicago cop turned corporate gun contractor who is sent to investigate a death. During his mission, he encounters the last remaining members of an indigenous tribe. Protagonist Pictures will begin sales ahead of EFM.
“I’m drawn to films that take the raw, the wild, the brutal and throw it squarely at the beautiful and sacred,” Borrelli said. “The rainforest is both the villain and the savior in this story, and that natural and eternal conflict is the essence of what I want to portray in The Last of the Tribes.”
Bloom appeared in the “Lord of the Rings” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. He recently appeared opposite Andie MacDowell in the boxing drama The Cut and the action thriller Red Right Hand. He also appeared in the Amazon Prime action comedy “Deep Cover,” co-starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Nick Mohammed. Bloom will next be seen in Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard.
Hawke was fresh off an Oscar nomination for his role in Blue Moon and headlined the critically acclaimed FX series The Lowdown, which is set to air a second season. He also recently starred in the critically acclaimed thriller film The Weight at Sundance.
Guarani is an indigenous Brazilian activist, model, actress, and speaker from the Guarani Mbiya tribe, born and raised in the Amazon rainforest. She also appears in Darren Aronofsky’s sci-fi documentary “Postcards From Earth.”
Cinematographer Adolfo Veloso, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Train Dreams, has also been nominated for an ASC and a BAFTA, and won a Critics Choice Award, will serve as director of photography. The film will be produced by Academy Award winner Edward Saxon (The Silence of the Lambs) and co-produced by Chockstone Pictures’ Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz (All the Old Knives), Mark Bailey, and Ethan and Ryan Hawk (The Weight). Fernando Meirelles (The Two Popes, City of God) is executive producing and his São Paulo-based O2 Filmes is producing in Brazil.
“‘Last of the Tribe’ is an intense, propulsive thriller with real moral weight at its core,” Dave Bishop, CEO of Protagonist Pictures, said in a statement. “This project, set in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon, combines elevated genre storytelling with urgent contemporary themes. Claudio has crafted a bold vision, and Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom and Zaya Guarani lead the cast, and we look forward to introducing this outstanding project to EFM buyers.”
“‘Last of the Tribe’ is a tense, gripping thriller and a true classic heart-pounding ride. It’s also a story about something even more timely: the destruction of the rainforest and the people who call it home. “The incredible cast that Bloom joins, led by the extraordinary Ethan Hawke, are all incredibly bright, passionate, talented, and committed to telling this story,” the producers added in a joint statement.
Hawke is repped by CAA and MGMT Entertainment. Bloom is repped by WME, Untitled and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan. Mr. Guarani is represented by Carl Navarro of Spotlight Media.
