Kill director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat to make Hollywood debut with Jamie Foxx thriller

Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, who won acclaim for the action thriller Kill, is set to direct his first Hollywood film. He will helm Deadlocked, an action thriller starring Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx, with Amazon MGM Studios backing the film for worldwide distribution.According to Deadline, Deadlocked will stream globally on Prime Video. The film marks Bhat’s first English-language feature and adds a Hollywood project to the filmmaker’s growing body of work after the success of Kill.The synopsis of Deadlocked says it “follows a grieving former Marine serving jury duty who is forced back into action when the trial of the century turns into a deadly hostage situation. The crisis begins when the defendant’s daughter takes control of the courthouse in an attempt to free her father.” The film is based on an original idea by Eric Scott Anderson of The Black Fox and Matt Takejiro Bosack of NCIS: Hawai’i, who have also written the screenplay.The producers on the film include Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger for Range, Dave Caplan for C2, and Jamie Foxx for Foxxhole Productions. AJ Bourscheid, Liz Destro, Paul Currie and Corinne Foxx will serve as executive producers. Foxx was most recently seen in Netflix’s action-comedy Back in Action, co-starring Cameron Diaz. He will next be seen in the true story-based Olympic boxing drama Fight for ’84, also for Netflix.Bhat drew international attention with Kill, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was later sold to Lionsgate in a mid-seven-figure deal before getting a wide theatrical release in 2024. Starring Lakshya and Raghav Juyal, the film was one of India’s most violent films.Apart from Kill, Bhat has directed the films Apurva and Hurdang, and the web series Rasbhari and The Gone Game. Reports had also linked him to Parshuram, an action thriller starring Sunny Deol. After the announcement of Deadlocked, it remains uncertain whether that project will be delayed or shelved.- EndsPublished By: shweta keshriPublished On: Aug 6, 2026 13:19 IST