Samuel L Jackson and Dave Bautista are to star in Afterburn, a post-apocalyptic adventure about a treasure hunter racing to recover the iconic Mona Lisa.
Indiana Jones’ insistence that ‘it belongs in a museum’ never gets old, but we might be poised to hear a new variant on the adventuring archaeologist’s popular refrain. As details of Dave Bautista’s next film emerge, we’re hoping that hearing Bautista yell that ‘it belongs in an art gallery!’ will soon sit in the popular culture pantheon of quotes, right next to Harrison Ford’s enduring classic.
Why? Well, for his next action flick, Bautista plays a treasure hunter searching for the Mona Lisa in a post-apocalyptic future. If that wasn’t a wild enough premise, it looks like he might have to contend with Samuel L Jackson (who plays a freedom fighter named Valentine) along the way. Oh, and there’s an ‘unhinged warlord’ knocking about too, but sadly we don’t yet know who’ll be playing that role.
Frankly, those three sentences were more than enough to sell it to us, but if you want more details, here’s the film’s synopsis, per Deadline:
Afterburn is set 10 years after a solar flare has wiped out technology across the globe. Bautista will play ex-soldier Jake, who works as a treasure hunter recovering valuable objects from the old world for powerful clients. His latest mission is to team with freedom fighter Drea to recover the Mona Lisa before an unhinged warlord gets there first.
The film will be directed by JJ Perry, who recently completed production on Lionsgate’s The Killer’s Game, also featuring Bautista. Perry is also known for his work as a second-unit director and stunt co-ordinator on the John Wick and Fast & The Furious franchises.
The film fits into what looks like Bautista’s general career strategy, as he alternates more dramatic roles for auteur filmmakers with big action pics or comedies. We’ve seen him work with directing luminaries like Rian Johnson, M Night Shyamalan and Denis Villeneuve in the last couple of years while also starring in splashy action films like Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and Army Of The Dead.
We don’t have any production details yet, but the press release ventures as far as comparing the graphic novel on which the film’s based to a mash-up of Indiana Jones and Children Of Men. We haven’t read it ourselves but that’s a potent combination to name-check. We’re interested to see how this one unfolds, and rest assured, we’ll bring you more as we hear it.
