First Look: Brendan Fraser in Indian Drama 'The Field'

'The Mummy' actor plays an ex-pat gun runner in the bilingual thriller.

Here's a first look at a rather menacing Brendan Fraser in Indian drama The Field.

The directorial debut of Rohit Karn Batra, The Field revolves around an Indian mafia family at war with itself following the death of the patriarch. Fraser plays Charu, an American ex-pat gun runner, a role for which Ray Liotta was originally attached.

The Mummy actor was in Mumbai for two weeks in May to film his scenes, which feature dialogue in Hindi and English. The film's Indian cast includes veteran Bollywood actor Prem Chopra along with Ronit Roy, Neeraj Kabi and Vineet Singh.

L.A.-based Batra's credits include Roundabout, which won the jury prize for best short film at the 2012 Palm Beach International Film Festival.

Speaking of Fraser's time filming in India, Batra said: “It was fantastic. He had a lot of respect for the actors. For instance, Neeraj Kabi was in Talvar [based on a real-life murder mystery that premiered at Toronto] and Fraser actually happened to see that movie on the flight to Mumbai.”

Though set in India, Batra said The Field should be seen as an international film, explaining that though he could have set the story in a typical American city, he chose to film in the country “because the visual energy of India is very different, so I thought why not use that.”

“Filmmaking sometimes ends up being very local for the country a film is made for,” he adds. “But at the same time we are in a very global world, so I think films should reflect this more ... That's why Brendan's character is so interesting in that he grew up in the U.S. and is then in India.”

The Field is produced by Guy J. Louthan, whose credits include 2013's Halle Berry-starrer The Call. Brillstein Entertainment Partners' Jai Khanna is among the executive producers along with Adam Rosen and India-based Manish Trehan. The project is the second Indian production for Louthan, who earlier produced Roland Joffe's The Lovers, which was filmed in India in 2013. The romance drama starred Josh Hartnett and Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu.