EXCLUSIVE: Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) has inked a deal to direct Six Minutes to Freedom, Kurt Muse and John Gilstrap’s work of non-fiction about the 1989 Delta Force rescue of an American hostage in Panama.

With a screenplay by Jared Rosenberg, the film is based on the true story of Operation Acid Gambit, one of the most daring military raids in history. At its center is Kurt Muse, a businessman turned CIA asset who ran a clandestine radio operation in Panama to undermine Manuel Noriega’s regime in the late 1980s. After being arrested by Noriega’s secret police and imprisoned in brutal conditions, Muse was rescued by the United States’ most elite warriors, Delta Force, during their invasion of Panama in December 1989. Despite careful planning, and under intense pressure to succeed, the Delta operators only had a six-minute head start to pull off their high-risk heist before U.S. forces moved in, triggering the prisoner’s swift execution.

Toby Jaffe is set to produce via his recently launched RDV Films.

A filmmaker who began his career as a stunt performer and coordinator, Ric Roman Waugh most recently teamed with Jason Statham on Shelter, a thriller for Black Bear about a reclusive man whose life unravels after rescuing a drowning girl. Other notable credits include Snitch, Shot Caller, Angel Has Fallen, National Champions, the Greenland films and Kandahar, to name a few.

Recently, Roman Waugh launched the production company CineMachine Media Works, which is under a first-look deal at Lionsgate. He is repped by Range Media Partners and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.

Jaffe’s RDV recently set Ramin Bahrani to direct its Texas thriller The Rancher and is also at work on an espionage thriller titled Panic Officer, based on a spec by Ben Ripley, for New Regency.