When you’re an executive producer who helped launch a highlysuccessful television show about a government agent trying to stop
terrorists, what exactly do you do for your next project? Why not try helping to launch a movie franchise about a government
agent trying to stop terrorists? That’s just what Evan Katz (of 24 fame) is going to do!
Katz is set to turn Robert Littell’s novel, The Amateur, into an action vehicle for Hugh Jackman’s Seed Prods. & Fox 2000.
Jackman is set to star as Charlie Heller, a CIA cryptographer
whose fiance dies in a plane crash. When Heller finds out that
terrorists were behind the attack, he manipulates his bosses to
properly train him in order to get his revenge on said terrorists.
whose fiance dies in a plane crash. When Heller finds out that
terrorists were behind the attack, he manipulates his bosses to
properly train him in order to get his revenge on said terrorists.
Though the novel was originally made into a film in the early
80’s, ‘The Amateur’ is set to be a different take on the story, using
the original source material as a guide. Katz wants to modernize the
story, as the original novel was set during the Cold War. The goal is to create a new franchise, much along the lines of Jason Bourne and James Bond.
I’m quite interested in seeing how this turns out. I really liked Jackman’s work in The Prestige, but we haven’t really had a chance to see him in some real action sequences without wearing some sort of leather-bound costume. With the talent behind this film, it sounds like this could be the one that solidifies Jackman as a fantastic leading man.