The action-thriller from director John Erick Dowdle tells the story of an American family living in Southeast Asia who get swept up in a violent revolution.

The Coup, from director John Erick Dowdle and starring Owen Wilson, Pierce Brosnan and Lake Bell, has begun shooting on location in Thailand.

The film tells the story of an American family living in Southeast Asia who find themselves caught in the middle of a violent military uprising. Wilson and Bell play the American husband and wife, and Brosnan a heroic government operative.

Dowdle co-wrote the script with his brother Drew Dowdle.

Bold Films is financing, with Drew Dowdle, Michel Litvak and David Lancaster producing. Lancaster previously worked in Thailand on Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bangkok-set art house exercise in dreamy violence, Only God Forgives, starring Ryan Gosling.

Thai-based production company Living Films, which has worked on previous Thailand-set Hollywood projects including The Hangover 2, is facilitating the shoot.

“The producers of the The Coup had a wide choice of countries in which they could have based this production,” said Living Films founder and executive director Chris Lowenstein. “The fact that they chose Thailand is a great testament to the skills of the Thai crews and the resources that Thailand offers. We are delighted to help bring this project to the screen.”

Lancaster said he was back in Thailand because his prior shooting experience had been “wonderful.” But he added that Thailand should consider creating a tax incentive if it wants to attract more foreign productions.

“It is definitely an issue, as more and more countries have moved into the area of incentives. We only hope that Thailand can follow suit as the country already has a terrific crew and equipment base in place,” he said.

Despite the entreaties of Lousiana, North Carolina and Canada, Pierce Brosnan’s indie comedy “How to Make Love Like an Englishman” is shooting where it’s set — in Los Angeles.

The 25-day shoot started Oct. 14 with “Southland” star Ben McKenzie, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba and Malcolm McDowell starring. Tom Vaughn is directing from Matthew Newman’s script.

Brosnan plays a university professor who finds a woman (Hayek) who forces him to reevaluate his life of hedonistic excess — after he gets her grad student stepsister pregnant.

“It’s set in L.A. so we shot it in L.A.,” said producer Beau St. Clair, Brosnan’s longtime producing partner in Irish Dreamtime. “We could have saved money if we had shot in New Orleans or Wilmington, but it would not have looked like L.A. So we thought it would be better to work with a lean lean budget and shoot here instead of trying to fake it in some place like Vancouver.”

St. Clair said the budget was $30 million when the project was first developed in 2006. “It’s a lot less now,” she added.

She also said 40% percent is shot in Malibu. According to the FilmL.A. permitting agency, shoots have taken place at Los Angeles Center Studios, a restaurant on Wilshire in Westlake South, a downtown loft and a private residence in the mid-city area along with downtown driving shots.

Besides St. Clair, producers are Richard B. Lewis and Kevin Frakes as part of a co-production between Palmstar Media Capital, Southpaw Entertainment, Irish Dreamtime and Envision.

The Solution will be selling international rights at the upcoming American Film Market.

Feature film production in Los Angeles jumped 19.5% in the third quarter, concentrated in small-budget projects such as Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded “Wish I Was Here.” FilmL.A. noted in that report that the activity level lags far behind the record setting numbers of 1996.

FilmL.A. reported Tuesday that the most active film last week was Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller “Nightcrawler” with 18 permitted days. The movie is receiving a $2.3 million allocation from the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program.

Momentum has been gaining to improve the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which is far smaller than rival incentive programs in other states with a $100 million annual limit in credits and exclusion of features with budgets over $75 million. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently appointed Tom Sherak as film czar to address the runaway issue and several state legislators have announced plans to increase the scope of the incentive program.

HONG KONG – Production finally got underway today in Thailand on Bold Films’ action thriller “The Coup.”

Starring Owen Wilson, Pierce Brosnan and Lake Bell, the film centers on an American family who move to Southeast Asia and find themselves entangled in a violent coup in which merciless rebels attack the city.

John Erick Dowdle is directing from a screenplay he co-wrote with Drew Dowdle.

Producing for Bold Films are Michel Litvak and David Lancaster as well as Drew Dowdle. Andrew Pfeffer and Gary Michael Walters are executive producing with Chris Lowenstein of Thailand’s Living Films, co-producing.

The film was brought to market and substantially pre-sold at Cannes 2012.

For Lancaster “The Coup” is a speedy return to Thailand. He previously worked on Ryan Gosling starrer “Only God Forgives” which lensed in the country in early 2012.

“We welcome the production to Thailand. This once again shows that whether comedy, drama or high action, Thailand has the facilities and resources to provide the quality of teams and production resources that Hollywood demands,” said Ubolwan Sucharitakul, Director of the Thailand Film Office.

Including commercials and short films, Thailand has hosted over 500 foreign productions per year since 2009. This year inbound productions are expected to reach record levels and surpass 700.