DUBAI: French Algerian actress Sofia Boutella is set to star in “Only What We Carry,” the latest feature from Welsh writer and director Jamie Adams, best known for “She Is Love” and “Wild Honey Pie!”
The drama, which recently wrapped filming in Deauville, France, will have Boutella star alongside her “Star Trek” co-star Simon Pegg, the British actor known for the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.
Also appearing are French actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who reportedly has his most significant on-screen role since Robert Rodriguez’s 1996 cult classic “From Dusk Till Dawn.”
In addition, the cast features French actor Liam Hellmann and American singer Lizzy McAlpine, who makes her feature film debut.
Boutella plays Charlotte Levant, a woman who returns to her hometown to confront painful memories and unresolved emotions from her past.
Set on the windswept coast of Normandy, “Only What We Carry” follows a group of people brought together by chance as they face buried truths and emotional wounds.
When old relationships resurface — including the arrival of Tarantino’s character, John Percy, each person is forced to reckon with love, loss and the unspoken weight of the past.
Boutella most recently starred in “The Killer’s Game,” which hit cinemas in September, and Netflix’s “Rebel Moon — Part 2: The Scargiver.”
She also began filming the third season of the Second World War drama “SAS Rogue Heroes” in September.
The actress is known for her breakout performance in the Oscar-nominated film “Star Trek Beyond,” in which she portrayed the fierce alien warrior, Jaylah.
Boutella, 43, is a professional dancer and starred in a music video for rock band the Foo Fighters in 2020.
Born in Bab El-Oued, a bustling neighborhood of Algiers, Boutella started studying ballet aged 5. The family fled the Algerian Civil War in 1992 when she was 10 and moved to Paris.
There, she gravitated toward rhythmic gymnastics, joining the French national team at 18.
She later blended her classical ballet training with the physicality of gymnastics and even spent time breakdancing with a group called the Vagabond Crew.
