Often touted as a visionary director, the man behind the popular British drama series Peaky Blinders, Tom Harper is gearing up for his next release, Heart of Stone. Set to stream on Netflix on August 11, the high-octane spy thriller stars Gal Gadot in the lead role with Alia Bhatt and Jamie Dornan playing pivotal parts.
The movie marks the Bollywood actress' first international stint and while she has been pretty vocal about the opportunity, recently Tom also opened up about working with the Gangubai Kathiawadi star. He called Alia a dynamic talent and heaped praises on her.
He said, "We were so excited that Alia was going to join us. She's huge in the Indian film industry, but this is her first Hollywood production and full English language film. She's a formidable talent, has great intelligence, and expert attention to detail as well as that amazing film star charisma."
He also gave a little insight into the director's seat and revealed that he wanted to create something more authentic than the spy thriller franchise work you see nowadays. “When I first came on board, two things really struck me about the project: firstly, it was an original movie in a genre where there are a lot of franchises that have been around for many years, and secondly it had a female lead. I thought that was really exciting. Gal said to me, right from the very beginning, that she wanted this character to be a powerful woman in her own right, rather than a copy of the male action hero stereotype,” Tom revealed.
Speaking about Heart of Stone, the film also stars Sophie Okonedo and Matthias Schweighöfer.