Ethan Hawke will star in thriller 24 Hours To Live, which will mark the feature directing debut of second unit director Brian Smrz. Chinese distributor and financier Mark Gao’s Fundamental Films and Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Pictures will produce. Fundamental international chairman Gregory Ouanhon is also producing, Deadline reports.

The Chinese company, which recently set Harald Swart to direct Keanu Reeves-starrer Rally Car, will fully finance the film. Fundamental’s Gary Glushon and Thunder Road’s Kent Kubena and Jonathan Fuhrman will exec produce. Nick Meyer’s Sierra/Affinity will handle international sales at the EFM in Berlin.

Penned by Zachary Dean and based on an original script from Ron Mita & Jim McClain, 24 Hours To Live follows a career assassin who is given a chance at redemption after his employer brings him back to life temporarily, just after being killed on the job.

Smrz is highly regarded for his work on the likes of X-Men: Apocalypse, Iron Man 3, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and Live Free Or Die Hard. Hawke can next be seen in the Fundamental and EuropaCorp co-production Valerian, MGM’s The Magnificent Seven, and Chet Baker biopic Born To Be Blue. IFC Films is releasing the latter film in March.

Fundamental and Thunder Road are also working together on Scott Waugh’s Outlaws Inc.