Noel Clarke is getting behind the camera again, after a brief hiatus (doing mostly acting), with the sci-fi actioner titled The Anomaly, which stars Luke Hemsworth and Ian Somerhalder.

Shooting is underway in London and New York, on a project that will see Clarke co-star, with Brian Cox and Alexis Knapp rounding out the cast.

Penned by Simon Lewis, the story follows the travails of a traumatized ex-soldier who wakes up in the back of a van, alongside a kidnapped boy, to find that he only has only nine minutes and 37 seconds of consciousness to work out why and how he got there.

It was earlier last month that the British multihyphenate, Clarke, revealed to Getty at the UK premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness, which he has a part in, that he was working on a British film with an American villain, and that he would be shooting in May. 

We can only assume that The Anomaly is that project.

An announced earlier this week, Universal Pictures has picked up UK theatrical and home entertainment rights to the thriller. No release dates yet; and no word on whether the film will head west. Although I’m sure an American distributor will pick it up. If Universal likes it in the UK, why not in the USA as well?

I should note that only 1 Noel Clarke-branded film has played in USA theaters – the sci-fi horror film, Storage 24.

I should also note that this is Clarke’s first solo directorial effort since 2008’s Adulthood (he co-directed 2010’s 4.3.2.1 with Mark Davis).

Most recently, he signed up to star in The Habit of Beauty, from directors Enrico Tessarin and Mirko Pinchelli, their first feature, which is scheduled to shoot in London and Florence later this year, and will be set against the backdrop of the 2011 London Riots.

He had a busy 2012 both in front of and behind the camera (writing and producing especially), and looks to be on-track for a similar kind of 2013.