CBS Films is gunning hard to adapt Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series into a successful franchise. At first they had their sights set on Consent To Kill being the first one out of the gate. Once word came through that Flynn had written a prequel though, Consent was tabled in favor of American Assassin. Various filmmakers and actors have come and gone over the past few years: Antoine Fuqua, Edward Zwick, Eric Bana, Gerard Butler, Matthew Fox, etc. The studio recently settled on Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor) as their would-be Terence Young and Bruce Willis recently entered talks to play Rapp’s mentor. Still no Rapp though…until now.
CBS Films has reportedly offered Chris Hemsworth a sizable $10 million to sign the dotted line on this potential franchise. Chris is currently shooting Thor: The Dark World (2013) and will be moving on to star in Spielberg’s Robopocalpse (2014), so if he accepts this will likely shoot Fall 2013 at the earliest. I’m guessing CBS has no problem waiting for the God of Thunder though. Does Hemsworth want a third franchise? Given that there’s no 100% guarantee that Snow White and the Huntsman 2 will happen or even make it to a third entry, I’ll be surprised if he turns this down.
As for Bruno, he is currently filming Dean Parisot’s Red 2 (2013) and doesn’t have anything locked in afterwards. Bruce has never had trouble locating work, so I’m sure he’ll find something to do in-between…be it the oft-rumored western Five Against The Bullet for Joel Silver, another 50 Cent cheapie or two, or another indie turn (ala Moonrise Kingdom & Lay The Favorite).
Ye olde synopsis…
‘American Assassin’ tells the story of legendary CIA agent Mitch Rapp. Long before he began hunting terrorists, Rapp was a gifted college scholar/athlete. Then, tragedy struck and Rapp was recruited into the nation’s most elite covert operations program. After completing training designed to teach the kind of lethal skills necessary to target our most dangerous enemies, here and abroad, he is a man reborn with a mission of retribution.
Source | Deadline