Deadline is reporting that Michael Keaton has signed on to star in American Assassin, CBS Films and Lionsgate’s adaptation of Vince Flynn’s bestselling book series revolving around the character of CIA counter-terrorism operative Mitch Rapp. Keaton will play Stan Hurley, Rapp’s mentor, who teaches him everything he needs to know.
The film, which is being directed by Michael Cuesta, “will begin as Rapp is a black ops recruit who’s devastated by the loss of his fiancee to a terrorist attack. The CIA deputy director assigns the shadowy Hurley to train a grief-stricken but highly motivated Rapp how to thwart terrorist operations and hunt the perpetrators. 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.”
Rapp appeared in fourteen novels by Flynn, who passed away in 2013, and the series is being eyed as a potential action franchise, although it has taken CBS Films the best part of a decade to get the project moving.
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