KiKi Layne and Luke Hemsworth have joined Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming action thriller Deadlocked, adding two more recognizable names to a project led by Jamie Foxx and directed by Indian filmmaker Nikhil Nagesh Bhat. The casting comes as Bhat prepares to make his Hollywood debut following the international attention generated by his 2023 Hindi action thriller Kill.
Deadlocked already had Jamie Foxx and Sasha Calle attached before Layne and Hemsworth came aboard. Foxx stars as a grieving former Marine serving jury duty who is forced back into action when a major trial becomes a deadly hostage crisis. The defendant’s daughter seizes control of the courthouse in an attempt to free her father, turning a routine civic duty into a dangerous fight for survival.
For Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, the film represents a major new chapter. Kill established Bhat as a filmmaker with a strong command of intense action, and its international reception helped bring his work to a much wider audience. Deadlocked now gives him the opportunity to bring that filmmaking style to an English-language production with an established Hollywood star.
Layne and Hemsworth also bring different strengths to the growing ensemble. Layne gained major attention with her leading role in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk and later appeared in The Old Guard, Coming 2 America and Don’t Worry Darling. Hemsworth is widely known for his four-season role in Westworld and has also become part of Prime Video’s The Terminal List universe. Their roles in Deadlocked are being kept under wraps.
The connection to Kill is especially interesting because the film was shaped by a frightening personal experience from Bhat’s life. The filmmaker has spoken about travelling by train in India when the journey was disrupted by a robbery involving around 30 armed men. That experience later helped inspire the confined, violent action of Kill, giving the film a personal foundation rather than simply serving as a conventional action story.
Deadlocked also has an experienced production team behind it. Range Media Partners and C2 Motion Picture Group are involved in the project, with producers including Fred Berger, Brian Kavanaugh Jones and Dave Caplan. The companies have connections to genre projects such as Longlegs and The Monkey, adding another interesting link to the film’s production background.
Jamie Foxx is involved behind the camera as well, producing through Foxxhole Productions. Corinne Foxx is among the executive producers alongside AJ Bourscheid, Liz Destro and Paul Currie.
The screenplay comes from Eric Scot Anderson and Matt Takejiro Bosack, based on their original idea. Amazon MGM Studios is preparing Deadlocked for streaming, with Prime Video set to carry the film globally.
With KiKi Layne, Luke Hemsworth, Jamie Foxx and Sasha Calle now part of the ensemble, Deadlocked is taking shape as an international action project with a clear creative identity. More importantly, the film marks a significant step for Nikhil Nagesh Bhat after Kill opened doors beyond Indian cinema. Moving from a Hindi action hit to a Hollywood production led by Jamie Foxx gives Bhat a chance to build on what made his earlier work stand out while reaching an even broader audience.