British actor Rufus Sewell has confirmed that he will star in Vinyan, the second feature by Fabrice du Welz .

A former theatre and television actor, Sewell, first came to public acclaim in Alex Proyas’ sombre and offbeat Dark City. More recent films in which he has starred include Neil Burger’s The Illusionist and Nancy Meyer’s The Holiday.

Sewell will head the bill alongside French actress Emmanuelle Béart, whose role was confirmed a few months ago, in a film about a couple who get lost in post-tsunami Thailand while searching for their missing child.
With its story of two people undertaking an increasingly crazy search in the midst of a jungle (see news), Vinyan - meaning "ghost" in Thai – promises to be just as disturbing as the director’s previous feature, The Ordeal [trailer].

Cinematography is by Belgian DoP Benoît Debie (see interview), winner of the Best Cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

Vinyan is scheduled to start what is expected to be a logistically challenging 10-week shoot – alternating between the city and jungle – in mid-May.

Produced by France’s Michaël Gentile for The Film with the UK’s FilmFour and co-produced with the director through his production outfit, One Eyed, and Dominque Janne of K2 Productions, the film has been backed by the Communauté française and Wild Bunch who are handling the film’s French distribution and international sales.

With a projected €4m budget, the title is expected to find other co-producers, including Canal+ and ARTE, among others.