A series about a criminal who is shot in the face during a botched jewel heist and then forced to work undercover because of his new look has begun production in Montreal.

Bullet in the Face is a six-part, half-hour comedic action thriller produced by Muse Entertainment and Just for Laughs Television.

The show is set to air next summer on U.S. cable network Independent Film Channel (IFC), which signed on for the comedy in the development phase. It has been licensed to Super Channel in Canada.

The network liked the comedy because some of the channel’s best-performing movies lean towards Tarantino-style thrillers such as Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds, explains producer Jesse Prupas, in an email interview.

“This was the style of project they knew their audience would be attracted to,” says Prupas, who is coproducing with Just for Laugh’s Evi Regev.

The series is directed and co-executive produced by Erik Canuel (Barrymore, Bon Cop, Bad Cop) and the cast includes actor Max Williams as the criminal-turned-cop, and will feature guest stars such as Eddie Izzard (Valkyrie, Ocean’s Thirteen) and Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, The Expendables) as notorious crime lords.

Bullet in the Face was financed by a combination of license fees, distribution advances (TF1 International) and equity (Muse and Just for Laughs), Prupas explains.

Photo: Perpetualplum, Flickr Creative Commons