Given the progressively creaky state of the Bond franchise, it’s no surprise that studios are trying to inject life into the spy genre with the likes of the recently resurrected The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the XXX “franchise” (which sadly seems to have come to an end with the brilliantly awful XXX: State of the Union).
Another guy getting dug out of the archives is Matt Helm. Dreamworks has given the writing job for Matt’s latest assignment to hot scribes Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (2 Fast 2 Furious), who’ll bring the character, a former WWII spy, into current times. The busy writers also recently worked on adapting the videogame Spy Hunter, Tom Clancy’s book Red Rabbit (which may find yet another actor in the Jack Ryan role) and the supervillain comic Wanted (a story that sounds better than it really is in execution), focusing on an average working stiff who discovers he’s the son of a notorious villain in a world that has secretly disposed of costumed heroes.
Based on a character from novelist Donald Hamilton, Helm turned spoofy (another of the many things liberally "borrowed" by Mike Myers for the not-really-that-funny Austin Powers series) in a portrayal by drunken crooner Dean Martin as the suave sexist spy in four bombastic films, The Silencers, Murderer’s Row, The Ambushers and The Wrecking Crew. Matt also popped up on a short-lived TV series in the mid-70s. Filmmaker Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) also recently attempted to bring the machismo-packed adventures of Helm to theaters.