It looks like Black Panther and Creed star Michael B. Jordan could have another potential franchise on the horizon, with Deadline reporting that the actor has signed on for the lead in The Silver Bear, an adaptation of the book series by Derek Hass (Wanted, 3: 10 to Yuma).
The film, which has been scripted by Frank Baldwin (The Godmother, Hard Powder) will explore the formative story of Columbus a man who becomes the most feared and respected hit man in the criminal underworld – an assassin so effective that he becomes what Russian mobsters refer to as a Silver Bear. However, he is forced to face his own nightmarish origins when he’s hired to kill the Speaker of the House, who is currently running for the United States presidency.
“We could not be more excited to work with Michael and Lionsgate,” said producer Ankur Rungta of Nickel City Pictures. “We have been huge fans of Michael all the way back to his days in The Wire, and from our first meeting we knew that he was the perfect fit for the role of Columbus.”
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“[The Silver Bear is] the kind of story that needs to be experienced on the big screen and Michael is the perfect movie star to inhabit the skin of this dynamic character and take us into the cinematic world of Columbus,” added Lionsgate chairman Joe Drake.
As well as starring as Columbus, Jordan is set to executive produce the film through his Outlier Society production company, whose other projects include the animated series gen:Lock and sci-fi superhero drama Raising Dion.
