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Eli Roth Starring In Aftershock

Escape thriller is English-language debut of director Nicolas Lopez.

Actor, writer, producer and director Eli Roth is currently shooting his first leading role since 2009's Inglourious Basterds.

Aftershock revolves around inmates of an insane asylum on an island who escape during an earthquake. Roth wrote the script with director Nicolas Lopez, who was inspired by the Chilean earthquake of 2010. It's the first English-language film for the helmer, whose last two films, Que Pena Tu Vida and Que Pena Tu Boda, were huge hits in his native Chile.

Filming is underway in Chile, report Deadline, with a bidding war for distribution currently underway. Roth plays the lead, with the cast including Ariel Levy, Nicolas Martinez and Lorenza Izzo, Natasha Yarovenko, Andrea Osvart and Miguel Asensio. Actress and pop star Selena Gomez recently filmed a cameo.

Roth lavished praise on his new protégé: "I’ve been a huge fan of Nicolas Lopez since his remarkable debut Promedio Rojo and have watched him grow into one of the best young filmmakers out there. He has the incredible combination of commercial sensibility with an artistic eye, and what he has done here in Chile with their film industry is revolutionary. This collaboration marks the beginning of what we call Chilewood, making genre films for the global market using all the resources Chile has to offer. We are making a smart elevated disaster genre movie with superb production value, something really big. The film’s going to be very scary, very intense, and very real."

Lopez said: "I have been writing, producing and directing feature films since I was 17, and now that I’m 28 it’s time to cross over to the worldwide market, especially when you have someone like Eli Roth as your Godfather. I was a fan of Cabin Fever and Hostel, and I love that we’re mixing our sensibility. People will be shocked when they see this movie. It’s nothing that you could expect. I want this to be my Robocop."

Roth, director of Hostel and Cabin Fever, recently produced the hit horror The Last Exorcism.