American Assassin Helmer Changes
In the beginning…
CBS studios has been working on bringing author Vince Flynn‘s character Mitch Rappto the screen for what seems
“American Assassin” author and Mitch Rapp creator Vince Flynn
like 50 years. When we first wrote about the project, the movie was going to be based on the book Consent to Kill and was to star an adult Rapp already in full action hero mode. They even had a director in Antoine Fuqua.
We all got so excited!
After many, many months of speculation about casting, including our own poll that put Gerard Butler out front as the fan favorite, things seemed to grind to a halt. That was all the way back in 2010. We heard only silence until June of 2011.
Then everything changed.
All the sudden there was no more Consent to Kill, there was no more Antoine Fuqua and there was no more middle aged Mitch Rapp. What?? In all that down time, Flynn had written American Assassin, a prequel that contained the full Mitch Rapp back story. And that, my friends, is where you want to start a movie franchise.
So it was back to the drawing board, with a new writer and director in Ed Zwick. Casting was again the great unknown – now Rapp needed to be much younger, just out of college. All of the original favorites including Butler, Eric Bana and Colin Farrell were out – this movie was going to need a new face. Again, amidst much speculation there was…silence.
And now more changes!
Recently, over a year later and none the wiser, I was browsing on imdb.com and lo and behold, American Assassin is no longer slated to be directed by Zwick. Instead, Zwick, along with Marshall Herskovitz, is on board as writer but has been replaced as director by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. This all happened in February. Where was the fanfare?? Fine, I totally missed any mention of it, probably while taking a short nap.
Who is Jeffrey Nachmanoff?
That’s exactly what I said. Well, he wrote The Day After Tomorrow and has directed a couple of episodes of the reportedly outstanding Showtime series Homeland but doesn’t have a long resume. His most recent films are The Traitor (a good movie with the fabulous Don Cheadle) which he wrote and directed and The Tourist (a flop with the fabulous Johnny Depp) which he co-produced. Word is that CBS wanted a director along for a series and maybe that just wasn’t Zwick’s bag.
Whatever prompted the change, the big question still remains…
Who will play Mitch Rapp?
Ah, casting. So much fun to speculate! Indiewire pointed a finger straight at Henry Cavill, who will be playing Superman in the upcoming Man of Steel. He’s ridiculously good looking, but will he make a good Rapp? Who else is should be in contention? Remember, it has to be a young guy, just out of college. What do you think – who would make the best young Mitch Rapp?
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
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