Lionsgate Acquires U.S. Rights to Saldaña’s “Blood Ties”

Zoë Saldaña’s next project will have blood ties to the United States…

Lionsgate’s Roadside Attractions has acquired the U.S. distribution rights for Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet’s English-language directorial debut starring the 34-year-old Puerto Rican/Dominican-American actress and Star Trek Into Darkness starlet.

Zoe Saldana

Lionsgate reportedly paid $2 million to close the deal on the film, which centers on two brothers, one a cop and one an ex-con.

It’s based on the French film Les Liens Du Sang, which starred Canet. He stayed behind the camera for this one with Saldaña, Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Maroin Cotillard, Domenick Lombardozzi, Mila Kunis, Matthias Schoenaerts and James Caan starring.

Saldaña to Bring Joy Castro’s “Hell Or High Water” to Life…

Zoë Saldaña is looking to bring a mystery novel to life…

Saldaña has teamed up with producers Jane Startz and Aida Bernal to option the mystery thriller Hell or High Water.

Zoe Saldana

The 34-year-old half-Puerto Rican & half-Dominican American actress and her sister Cisley’s Saldaña Productions will work with Jane Startz Productions and Bernal’s Spellbound Entertainment to bring the novel to the screen.

The companies are currently trying to figure out whether Joy Castro‘s debut novel will be made into a feature or a television series.

Hell or High Water follows New Orleans reporter Nola Céspedes as she is dragged into the city’s post-Katrina underworld on the trail of what she thinks will be her big scoop. The novel was released July 17 by Thomas Dunne Books and was named one of the best books of 2012 by The Kirkus Review.

Hell or High Water

Saldaña is starring in the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek Into Darkness, which will be released on May 17, 2013.

She’ll next be seen alongside Clive Owen in Blood Ties, directed by Guillaume Canet.