EXCLUSIVE: The Dark Knight and Olympus Has Fallen star Aaron Eckhart has begun principal photography in Bulgaria on action-thriller The Walk-In, which Film Bridge International is launching at the Cannes market.

Roel Reiné, who directed Eckhart in 2024 action film Classified with Tim Roth and Abigail Breslin, is directing the movie, which is shooting on location across Sofia and throughout Bulgaria.

Written by Scott Windhauser, the film follows “former CIA operative Hayes (Eckhart), who uncovers a conspiracy connected to an imminent terrorist attack targeting the G7 Summit.”

Film Bridge has secured a host of international distribution partners on the film, including Eagle Pictures (Italy), Vertigo Films (Australia), Wildbunch (Germany, France), Mediasquad (Poland), Falcon Films (Middle East), Kinolights (South Korea), ADS Services (Hungary), Paradise/MGN (CIS&Baltics), AKC Sinema Televizyon (Turkey), Scanbox Entertainment (Scandinavia), Cinesky (Airlines), Karpat Media (Romania), Foxx Media (Czech Rep & Slovakia), Vertical (UK) and YouPlanet Pictures (Spain).

Producers include Film Bridge International’s Ellen Wander (Spinning Man), Gabriel Georgiev (Savage Hunt) of Midwest, Choice Film’s Summer Crockett Moore (Killing Faith) and Zori Davidkova (Killing Faith).

The Film is funded by Calgary-based Orogen Entertainment where Blair Ward, Anders Erdén, Lauren Case, and Jeremy Gilman will act as executive producers on the film.

Reiné, whose credits include Halo, Black Sails and Knightfall, stated: “After the success of Classified, working with Aaron again felt like the perfect next step. He brings a grounded intensity and emotional depth that elevates every scene. The Walk-In is bigger, darker, and even more ambitious — a character-driven action thriller with real scale and tension.”

Japanese newcomer Rimu Kuwaki makes his debut as a savvy robot child surrogate.

Japanese auteur Hirokazu Koreeda is a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, largely returning to present films that deal with issues of life, death and parenting, both good and bad. This year his Competition entry Sheep in the Box, offers a sci-fi twist on those familiar themes, marking the acting debut of Kuwaki, who will turn 10 years old during the festival. Haruka Ayase and Daigo Yamamoto play his parents. And Kuwaki? “I play a humanoid who looks exactly like their child, who died in an accident,” he explains, “and continues living in their place.”

Kuwaki was chosen from more than 200 contenders, despite having next to no acting experience. “I’ve never really had any acting lessons — almost none, to be honest — but I have appeared in one drama series. The lines were basically just me being myself, so I’m not sure if you could really call it acting.”

Nevertheless, Kuwaki took to the challenge, and praises Koreeda for helping him ease into the role. “Director Koreeda Hirokazu is very kind,” he says. “He would encourage me by saying, ‘Let’s do our best,’ so any feelings of fear or embarrassment just disappear. Every time after shooting a take, he would also say to me, ‘That was really great,’ which made me so happy and motivated me to do my best again the next day. The atmosphere on set was fun and relaxed.”

Not every take was perfect, however. “Sometimes I got a bit too excited and started running around,” he recalls, “and I was told, ‘Robots aren’t supposed to sweat.’ And when I had a little bit food around my mouth, the crew said, ‘Robots don’t eat sweets, right?’ So I realized I had to be more careful.”

Kuwaki also learned a lot from his screen parents. “They’re kind, beautiful, and cool — I love them very much,” he says. Did he hang out with them to prepare for the role? “Yes, I did. We spent time together having meals, looking at photos of me as a baby, and even giving each other shoulder massages! It was a really fun time. As for what I learned, I was really moved by their facial expressions and movements during the acting, and it made my heart ache at times. It made me realize how amazing acting can be.”

Any plans to act again? “I like both watching movies and acting in them, and I hope to continue acting in the future. I’ve already told my family about my decision, and I’m going to do my best to appear in three more films.” And in the meantime, what else keeps him busy? “I like baseball, soccer, video games, golf, dancing and fishing. I’m currently practicing golf and dancing so I can get better at them.”

Russian writer-director Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Elena, Loveless) is back in the Cannes Film Festival competition this year. Loveless won the jury prize at the 2017 edition of the festival after Leviathan received the 2014 best screenplay award, and Elena was honored with the Un Certain Regard special jury prize in 2011.

So, of course, the latest movie from the two-time Oscar nominee, his first feature in close to a decade, is highly anticipated.

Minotaur, co-written with Semen Liashenko, has been shrouded in mystery, though. What is known about the film is that the now-exiled Zvyagintsev reunited for its creation with longtime collaborators, such as cinematographer Mikhail Krichman and production designer Andrey Ponkratov. The film is a co-production between France, Latvia and Germany. The producers are MK2 Films’ MK Productions, CG Cinéma and Zvyagintsev, in association with Leaf Entertainment. The co-producers are Razor Film in Germany and Forma Pro films in Latvia.

MK2 Films (Sentimental Value) is handling international sales. Mubi has acquired Minotaur for North America, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and Latin America.

The crime thriller is understood to also be a political and moral fable, as the title, which is a nod to Greek mythology, hints at. The minotaur was a monster, half man and half bull, that was imprisoned in a dark underground labyrinth.

The Cannes website only reveals the following about Minotaur: “Russia, 2022. When Gleb, a successful company director, finds himself under siege from mounting corporate pressures and an increasingly unstable world, the collapse of his carefully ordered life accelerates toward violence.”

Dmitriy Mazurov stars as Gleb opposite Iris Lebedeva as Galina. An exclusive clip from Minotaur that THR can now premiere takes us to their breakfast table. Does the sneak peek give you the sense that there is a certain awkwardness in the air? Could there be trouble brewing because of secrets that we, and Gleb, may not be privy to? Maybe it’s just us, but it feels like there is stuff that is left unsaid – even if not left untexted?

But make up your own mind! Watch the exclusive clip from Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s Minotaur below.