a "sci-fi romance", the film is the second full-length feature from writer and director Juan Solanas. It was originally slated for release in 2011, but delays pushed back the release date. A third film project in 2010 was Promised Land, to be directed by Michael Winterbottom and, according to Variety, would "recount the lead up to the 1948 partition of Palestine and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel". Sturgess was to star as a British officer hunting down the extremist Jewish factions. The film was later put on hiatus because funding could not be secured. In March and April 2011, filming took place for Ashes, a film directed by Mat Whitecross. The picture has been described as a contemporary film noir thriller starring Ray Winstone and Lesley Manville along with Sturgess. Filmed in the Isle of Man, the production was partially funded by the band Coldplay, university friends of the director. Sturgess co-starred in Cloud Atlas, which began filming in September 2011 and was released in October 2012. Sturgess worked on two films during 2012. Giuseppe Tornatore's The Best Offer (original title 'La Migliore Offerta') was filmed during the spring in Prague, Vienna, and several cities in Italy. Co-starring Geoffrey Rush and Sylvia Hoeks, the film went on to win the David di Donatello Award for Best Film. In the autumn, Sturgess went to Los Angeles to film Electric Slide, directed by Tristan Patterson and co-starring Isabel Lucas and Chloe Sevigny. An official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival, it premiered there in 2014 as part of the Viewpoint selections. In the last half of 2013, Sturgess worked in three films. The first was Stonehearst Asylum, co-starring Kate Beckinsale and directed by Brad Anderson, in the summer. Loosely based on the short story "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" by Edgar Allan Poe, Sturgess stars as a medical school graduate who visits an asylum for the insane. The film was released in October 2014. London Fields, based on the novel by Martin Amis, was next, filmed in London and co-starring Amber Heard and Billy Bob Thornton. The picture is the first feature film directed by Mathew Cullen. After that, Kidnapping Freddy Heineken was filmed in Belgium and New Orleans. Directed by Daniel Alfredson and co-starring Sam Worthington and Anthony Hopkins, filming finished before the end of the year. It was released in 2015. Sturgess portrayed Dutch