Last month, Variety revealed that Fargo and Birds of Prey star Mary Elizebeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) would be leading a female-driven assassin flick Kate directed for Netflix that is directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (The Huntsman: Winter’s War) from a script penned by Umair Aleem (Danger Girl).

The story revolves around a female assassin, who, after being poisoned and given less than 24 hours to live, must go on a manhunt through the streets of Tokyo to take vengeance on her murderer before she dies.

HN Entertainment has exclusively learned they are looking to cast young Asian actresses in the lead role of Ani along with how the character factors into the plot opposite Winstead in the Toyko-set action flick.

Below is the casting breakdown for the role of Ani, which also exclusively has some character and plot details not previously mentioned in that original report from Variety.

LEAD ROLE OF ANI

*12-15

*FEMALE

*ASIAN, SOUTHEAST ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER

*SPEAKS BOTH JAPANESE & ENGLISH – FLUENCY NOT REQUIRED

Ani, a Yakuza Princess, is a spoiled brat that is deeply connected to the criminal underworld of the Yakuza in Tokyo, Japan. She is both prone to profanity and seems much more mature than her age would suggest. After being poisoned, Kate kidnaps Ani for leverage to infiltrate the Japanese Yakuza and track down her murderer.

We’ve also learned that filming may begin on September 19th with locations expected to include Japan and possibly even Thailand. Netflix recently shot the Chris Hemsworth action film Dhaka in Thailand.

It’s being produced by Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch (John Wick), which could mean that his stunt company 87Eleven Action Design may get involved with the action sequences. The team recently worked with Winstead on the upcoming DC Comics movie Birds of Prey. Leitch’s latest directorial effort Hobbs and Shaw releases on August 2nd and his next film is expected to be the Warner Bros. vampire action film Undying Love.

The streaming service has some other high-profile action movies on the horizon including Michael Bay’s Six Underground starring Ryan Reynolds, The Russo Brothers produced Dhaka starring Chris Hemsworth and David Harbour, Army of The Dead directed by Zack Snyder and starring Dave Bautista, and Bad Robot’s Lou starring Oscar-winner Allison Janney.

Netflix has yet to give Kate a release/drop date but it’s all but assumed it’ll be ready sometime in 2020.

SOURCE: HN ENTERTAINMENT