According to its synopsis (via Deadline), “Cooler” centers on Ray Sagona (Bautista), a South Beach bouncer who’s on the verge of rekindling ties with his estranged family. But suddenly he’s blackmailed into retrieving a stolen drug-filled safe at the club where he works before the Miami police arrive to pick it up. Pearce describes the film as “the kind of long-dark-night-of-the-soul thriller that I’ve always loved,” calling Bautista “one of the most soulful and talented collaborators I’ve been lucky enough to work with.”
The “one long, deadly night” premise for “Cooler” recalls that of “Hotel Artemis,” itself a mostly single-setting thriller about a hospital that, in a near-future version of Los Angeles, caters exclusively to killers-for-hire, bank robbers, and other sordid, law-breaking types. “Hotel Artemis” is also a proper showcase for Jodie Foster as “The Nurse” who runs said hospital, so hopefully Pearce has cooked up an equally meaty role for Bautista to sink his teeth into here.