CBS Films and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) announced that Academy Award®-nominee Michael Keaton (Birdman, Spotlight) will star in the adaptation of Vince Flynn’s massive bestseller AMERICAN ASSASSIN. Acclaimed filmmaker Michael Cuesta (Kill The Messenger, Homeland, L.I.E.) will direct the thriller from a screenplay by Stephen Schiff (The Americans, Ultimate Rush). Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, Deepwater Horizon, Red) and Nick Wechsler (The Road, Magic Mike) are producing the film.
Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Keaton) would be the most feared training officer in the CIA if more than a handful of people at the agency knew that he existed. As AMERICAN ASSASSIN begins, Deputy Director Irene Kennedy tasks Hurley with training Mitch Rapp, a black ops recruit devastated by the loss of his fiancée to a terrorist attack. As Rapp’s training progresses, the pair is dispatched on a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent to stop a mysterious operative from starting World War III in the Middle East.
Published by Atria Books and in mass market paperback by Pocket Books, both imprints of Simon & Schuster, AMERICAN ASSASSIN is one of fourteen novels set in the world of counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp. Every single one has been a New York Times bestseller, the three most recent entries have been number one New York Times bestsellers and the series has sold nearly twenty million copies to date.
“Stan Hurley is one of the pillars of the Vince Flynn universe and a favorite character for millions of readers, so casting him was a daunting challenge,” said Cuesta, who continued. “To have an actor as intelligent and gifted as Michael Keaton bring this beloved character to life is a thrill for everyone involved in AMERICAN ASSASSIN and a cause for celebration amongst ‘Hurley’ fans the world over.”
AMERICAN ASSASSIN will be the latest release in the partnership between CBS Films and Lionsgate. The film will be co-financed by the two companies with CBS Films handling production and marketing and Lionsgate handling distribution.
Michael Keaton is represented by ICM Partners, Anonymous Content and Wendy Kirk at Ziffren Brittenham LLP. The film will begin production this Summer. Like CBS Films, Simon & Schuster is a division of CBS Corporation.
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ABOUT CBS FILMS
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ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, video games and international distribution and sales. The Company has nearly 80 television shows on 40 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses. These include the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black, the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, the hit broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication successes The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game (with FremantleMedia), the breakout series The Royals and the Golden Globe-nominated dramedy Casual.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such successes as the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, Sicario, The Age of Adaline, CBS/Lionsgate's The DUFF, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions' Love & Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.For more information, log on to www.lionsgate.com.
