Charlie Hunnam is attached to star in true-life Thai kick-boxing prison thriller A Prayer Before Dawn, directed by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire (Johnny Mad Dog).

Hunnam, whose credits include Sons Of Anarchy and Pacific Rim, is in training now for the Muay Thai sequences of the film, set to shoot in summer 2015.

HanWay Films will launch sales on the film at AFM.

The film is described as being crossover genre fare in the vein of Drive and The Raid.

Sauvaire is also casting former prisoners who were Muay Thai champions in Thailand.

Producers are Senorita Films, the new outfit from former Wild Bunch executive Rita Dagher; and Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter’s UK outfit Hurricane Films, which optioned the material. The screenplay is by Nick Saltrese based on the book by Billy Moore.

The film is based on the true-life story of Billy Moore’s incarceration in a barbaric Thai prison, Klong Prem (aka the Bangkok Hilton), where he starts to train in the art of Muay Thai Boxing.

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Sauvaire said “A Prayer Before Dawn is - at one and the same time - a true story, a prison drama, a survival movie, a desperate love story and an extraordinary tale of redemption. Above all, it is a poignant and uniquely human story.”

Thorsten Schumacher, managing director of HanWay Films, added, “A Prayer Before Dawn combines the visceral thrill of Thai boxing with a human story of a fight for survival in prison hell. The fact that Charlie and Jean-Stéphane have already started living and breathing this film is proof of the incredible energy and sheer force the collaboration between these two will bring to the screen.”

Hunnam is represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners, CAA and Sloane, Offer, Dern & Weber.