Netflix has begun principal photography on Projet K (working title), a predominantly French-language historical thriller directed by Yvan Attal, and inspired by the true story of Nazi hunters Beate and Serge Klarsfeld. Diane Kruger, Dany Boon and Tim Roth star in the film, which follows the couple’s decade-long pursuit of Klaus Barbie, the former head of the Gestapo in Lyon during the German occupation of France, who was responsible for the deportation, torture and murder of thousands of people. Screen Daily first reported on the project.

The movie tells the story of Beate, a German woman, and Serge, a French Jew, whose relationship and shared determination to bring Nazi war criminals to justice led them to relentlessly track down Barbie, known as the “Butcher of Lyon”. Their pursuit eventually took them to Bolivia, where Barbie had been living under the alias Klaus Altmann, before his extradition to France in 1983 and subsequent trial.

Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, In the Fade) plays Beate Klarsfeld, while Boon (Welcome to the Sticks, La Ch'tite Famille) portrays Serge Klarsfeld. Roth (Poison, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction) takes on the role of Barbie.

Attal (The Accusation, Breaking Point) directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Laurent Turner, whose credits include the Netflix crime series Ganglands. Projet K is being shot in France, Belgium and Bolivia, with filming currently taking place in France, including Lyon and Paris. The production will also recreate the later stages of the Klarsfelds’ pursuit of Barbie in Bolivia. The story was previously dramatised in the Canal+ television film Manhunt, directed by Laurent Jaoui, with Attal himself playing Serge Klarsfeld opposite Franka Potente as Beate.

Attal is also producing the film through his Paris-based Films Sous Influence, alongside Antoine Pezet and Jérôme Corcos for NAC Films. No release date has yet been announced for Projet K.