CBS Films Weighs Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox For Rapp Role

http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/cbs-films-weighs-gerard-butler-colin-farrell-matthew-fox-for-rapp-role/

CBS Films Weighs Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox For Rapp Role
By MIKE FLEMING Friday March 19, 2010 @ 3:57pm PST
EXCLUSIVE:

CBS Films is gearing up on Consent to Kill, which is Les Moonves's film division's first shot at building a feature franchise. The tough part: making the right choice for undercover CIA counter-terrorism agent Mitch Rapp. The casting process hasn’t kicked up the level of dust Marvel has generated on The First Avenger: Captain America--THR just reported an offer has gone out to Chris Evans, a candidate Deadline told you about first on March 9--but CBS Films is down to three intriguing candidates to star in the Antoine Fuqua-directed film.
Consent to Kill is one of the 11 bestselling Vince Flynn novels that combine political intrigue and action. driven by a lead character who possesses the killing machine qualities and ruthlessness of Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer. I hear CBS Films has set its sights on Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell and Matthew Fox.

Butler is the front-runner right now, and seems ideal to play a man of action. Farrell hasn’t done a ton of action, but he impressed CBS Films CEO Amy Baer when he starred in SWAT, a project she supervised when she was a Columbia Pictures exec. The surprise is Fox, and I hear he has pursued the role aggressively as a next step after Lost finishes up. Fox hasn't been proven as an actor who can carry a feature franchise, but neither was Bruce Willis when he jumped from Moonlighting to Die Hard. CBS Films execs have had conversations with reps of actors that include Keanu Reeves and Jon Hamm, but the focus is on the trio. No offers have been made and it's not certain that Butler or Farrell would take the role.

Though it isn’t the first novel in the espionage series, Consent to Kill is a strong way to start the series. In the Jonathan Lemkin scripted adaptation, Rapp battles a Saudi billionaire who is out for revenge (Rapp killed his terrorist son in the earlier book Memorial Day). Rapp has to contend with a German spy and a husband and wife assassin team who've been hired to kill him, along with bureaucrats in the government who want to do Rapp harm. All this puts Rapp’s wife and unborn child in grave danger, and when the stuff hits the fan, Rapp becomes a character reminiscent of Denzel Washington in Man On Fire. CBS Films was designed to make films up to $50 million, but this one will likely cost more. Since a summer start date is in the offing, the Rapp decision should be made shortly.

So is this going to be a TV series?? I would love to see Gerry get involved in something as good as Kiefer Sutherland in 24.

Haven't heard of Brad Pitt being in the running for this role before. Anyway, take this article for what it is.....

http://michaelthanley.com/not-every-business-idea-is-worth-pursuing/

Not Every Business Idea is Worth Pursuing
by MHanley on July 23, 2010

Most creative minds and entrepreneurial-types have several business ideas running through their mind at any given time. The key is to filter these results and only pursue those ideas that have the most likelihood of being successful.

It may be a good idea to abandon an idea if there is no valid target market, if there is no viable revenue stream, if there are tremendous barriers to entry, if there is no way to compete with your competition, or if you arrive too late in the game. A common pitfall to avoid is starting a business or trying out a business idea just because your friends like the idea. Keep in mind that your friends are most likely biased in your favor and ready to support you and keep in mind that when it comes time to reach in their pockets to make the purchase, they may not like the idea as much as they did originally.

Many people ask me what idea that I had to let die was my favorite…

Mitch Rapp Movie Franchise- A few years ago, I discovered a virtually unknown author named Vince Flynn who was in the process of writing a series of books about Mitch Rapp, a CIA Counterterrorism Operative. Back then, I read for enjoyment…a couple of years later I was reading and wondered why nobody had turned this book series into a movie franchise. Unfortunately, when I started looking into acquiring the movie rights, I discovered that CBS Films had beaten me to the punch and purchased the movie rights. The first movie is due out in 2012 and will most likely star either Brad Pitt or Gerard Butler as the title character.

The latest tabloid crap about Gerry wanting Jen to be his costar in Consent to Kill made me wonder if he had been signed. So I went to IMDB and saw that Antoine Fuqua is going to be the director. And I remembered that name and something about hanging out with Gerry and getting ice water dunked on him being twittered. So I looked it up.

I kind of think Gerry may have signed for this.

Gerry and Fry Guy were at the release party for ELEW's release party (March 2nd, I think)
There was a tweet from Antoine that they dumped ice water on him (I posted in the Twitter thread):

Quote :

Then, Gerard Butler & Nick the Kiwi think itll b funny to dump ice water in my lap. Now it looks as if I jus peed my pants.


http://twitter.com/ARDIEFUQUA/status/9944610509

The author of the books, Vince Flynn, has said that Gerry was his choice.

And then there was a tweet on March 9th:

Quote :

Vince Flynn says they're signing a "Mitch Rapp" character next week. 4 names. Matthew Fox, Eric Bana, Gerard Butler& Keanu Reeves #5vtshow


http://twitter.com/victoriataft

So maybe it has already been decided?

Well, hmmmmm, it looks like it has all hit a snag. So if they are looking at co-financing and more dollars are at stake, Gerry might be out of the running.

http://www.vinceflynn.com/index10.htm

June 2010
Movie Update:
CBS Films took a big hit with their first major release Extraordinary Measures. Their second film starring J- Lo didn't bomb, but it didn't do great either. All of this has unfortunately complicated the decision process over green lighting Consent to Kill. Three months ago, it looked like we were on the verge of finally getting it done. We had a slew of great male and female actors who were extremely interested in signing on, Antoine Fuqua had been attached as director and everyone loved the script. Since then, CBS has gotten skittish over the budget and have begun to look for co-financing, which has put the project in a more complicated state. One of the major studios in Hollywood has offered to take the entire project over, increase the budget and turn it into a summer tent pole movie. They've floated Christian Bale as the lead, which is an extremely interesting choice considering what happens to Mitch Rapp in Consent to Kill. While this has been an extremely frustrating few months, I have once again realized just how hard it is to get a movie made. My esteem for the producers Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler has grown immensely. Their patience and dogged determination amazes me. It is my hope that we will know one way or another by the end of June.

http://www.movierewind.com/mitch-rapp

Mitch Rapp Movie Coming, Says Vince Flynn

George Bounacos | September 5, 2010


Vince Flynn fans may finally get the author’s work on film if former Warners honcho Lorenzo di Bonaventura has his way. The author told Good Morning Minnesota this week that multiple screenplay drafts have been written and casting could begin in days.

Flynn is a wildly popular author of political thrillers that regularly land on The New York Times’ bestseller list. In just the last three years, two of those books topped the fiction charts and all have been best sellers. That’s a great track record for an author who didn’t take no for an answer and self-published his first book.

CBS Films, trying to break into the see-saw feature film world, optioned Flynn’s novel Consent to Kill three years ago. That may seem like a long time ago, but is only a moment in the chaotic world of film production.

The story traces an Al-Qaeda attempt to detonate a nuclear weapon in Washington. If that sounds like a plot you might have seen on 24, learning that the author served several weeks as a story consultant for the hit Fox show that went off the air this year won’t surprise you. Kiefer Sutherland’s Monday night shoot-’em-up knew a thing or two about suspense.

Mitch Rapp in the Flesh
Mitch Rapp is the hero of many of Flynn’s books, including Consent to Kill. Fans across the Internet have been buzzing about choosing an actor to play Flynn’s counter-terrorist agent. Most sources suggest the casting decision will be between Colin Farrell and Gerard Butler. Sue wrote about casting Mitch Rapp just over two months ago.

Both are great choices. Farrell and Butler are handsome guys who can scruff up to play Mitch Rapp blending into the scenery. My personal vote is for Butler who has amazing eyes and can switch from Guy in Supermarket to Guy with Pistol. Yeah, I know his birth certificate doesn’t say USA, you xenophobes. Neither does Hugh Laurie’s. Anyone believe Dr. House is the guy from Jeeves and Wooster?

The Rapp on Consent To Kill’s Director
When I wrote about Consent to Kill in April, I immediately dropped in an extended YouTube clip of Denzel’s Oscar winning performance in Training Day and gave a shout to Fuqua and Lemkin’s Shooter with Danny Glover and Mark Wahlberg. Yes, I called him Marky Mark. Old habits die hard.

Antoine Fuqua, tabbed for almost a year to direct Consent to Kill, is going to direct his way to an Oscar stage one day. He is that good a director. He won’t get there with CTK although I thought he had a shot with this year’s talent-laden Brooklyn’s Finest.

The Money Man and The Writer
Lorenzo di Bonaventura is the lead producer on this project. That will undoubtedly thrill Flynn fans because he knows how to get action films done (the Transformer series and GI Joe, which he is hereby forgiven for) as well as series (Ludlum and Stephen King are targets of his).

Lorenzo played with whimsy in Stardust, which wasn’t his fault because Neil Gaiman stories are notoriously difficult to film. He also brought Angeline Jolie a reprieve with Salt.

di Bonaventura has snared Jonathan Lemkin to adapt Vince Flynn’s novel. Lemkin wrote The Devil’s Advocate, which featured one of my favorite underrated plot twists, as well as Shooter, which was directed by…yup, Antoine Fuqua.

Expect explosions. Expect plot twists. Expect grittiness that Bourne films lack.

Consent to Kill Looks Like A Go
Vince Flynn once redacted “rendition” and told Good Morning Minnesota last week that he often is given tips. A Twin Cities resident, Presidents Clinton and Bush are supposed readers. Flynn shared some great anecdotes, including Laura Bush telling her husband to stop asking about his sources. He’s also been at the White House four times, which is three times more than I have, and I’ve lived near it for a few decades. He even talks about sharing cigars and drinks with the King of Jordan.

The big news for Rapp fans? I’ll quote Flynn. “We’re getting close [to a Rapp film]. We were on the 1-inch line last February, then we backed up to the 10 yard line and now we’re at the 1 yard line.”

(Translation for non-football fans. It sounds like my Redskins, but yes)

Flynn finished by saying the fifth revision (c’mon, Lemkin!) of the script was due on August 27 and casting could begin after Labor Day.

Full article at link. It's an interesting read. I think I would like this guy in real life, especially after reading the 2nd paragraph in the article about Hollywood making crappy anti-American war movies :

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dgagliasso/2010/10/27/best-selling-author-vince-flynn-hollywood-stop-making-america-the-bad-guy/


Interview: Best-Selling Author Vince Flynn: Hollywood Needs to Stop Making America the Bad Guy

Quote :

CBS Films and producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura are on the verge of changing that Hollywood slight. Flynn’s Consent to Kill, dealing with a high-end duo of freelance assassins hired by a revenge-seeking Saudi prince, who attempt to eliminate Mitch Rapp has been adapted by screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin and is about to swing into high gear. “Les Moonves at CBS purchased the feature film rights to the Mitch Rapp franchise. It’s taken five years but this is a good group of people, they get it.” Says Flynn with appreciation. Antoine Fuqua of Training Day fame will direct with Gerard Butler and Eric Bana amongst others being considered as Rapp. Though he has no problem with either actor his personal choice would be Bruce Willis, “He’s a little old for the part, but he’s my favorite actor and he could make it work.”

Flynn has had to deal with a lot of foolish film industry types who used to come up with crazy ideas for casting the Mitch Rapp character with some left wing loon like Sean Penn. He shakes his head and gives a sardonic grin, “Like I’m going to let that happen.” Hollywood types should think more then twice before ever trying to cross this writer and his millions of dedicated fans.

Interview with Vince Flynn on the Laura Ingraham show. (I really like this guy and his comments on politics. After that, he talks about the Mitch Rapp movie and mentions Gerry being at the top along with Bruce Willis and some others. He hopes it will be announced next week. He has some interesting comments regarding an American vs. Scottish, Aussie, Irish etc actor playing the role, and that some actors in Hollywood might be worried about being too politically correct. I took that as referring to Hollywood being uber liberal in general and this character is a far right character).

Direct link:

http://www.lauraingraham.com/pg/jsp/charts/streamingAudioMaster.jsp;jsessionid=38E2CA8144045F91A6586F720439D58C?dispid=302&headerDest=L3BnL2pzcC9tZWRpYS9mbGFzaHdlbGNvbWUuanNwP3BpZD05NjY5

If it doesn't work, go to www.lauraingraham.com and click on Freebies. It should be labeled "Bestselling author Vince Flynn - October 29, 2010 ".

Interesting that he was interviewed today on the morning of the terrorist events today.

what terrorists events...??? me dont know what ya mean ??

Latest news/rumor is that Ben Affleck has been offered the Mitch Rapp role. If true, wonder if he will accept?

Quote :

Ben Affleck has apparently been offered the lead role in Antoine Fuqua’s (Bait, King Arthur, Shooter, Training Day) upcoming adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel Consent to Kill which Lorenzo di Bonaventura (GI Joe, Transformers) is producing for CBS Films.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/11/05/offers-ryan-gosling-doug-limans-kill-ben-affleck-antoine-fuquas-consent-kill/

This explains why this project seemed to stall and there was no news. It makes sense to start at the begining of the story, but I wonder if this will make it harder for Gerry considered for the role due to the age of the character at the begining of this "prequel" and the book series.....

http://thefilmstage.com/2011/06/08/ed-zwick-directing-film-adaptation-of-american-assassin/



Ed Zwick Directing Film Adaptation Of ‘American Assassin’


This is a pretty great instance of other mediums affecting Hollywood. Over a year ago, we heard that Antoine Fuqua would be adapting the the Vince Flynn novel Consent to Kill, which is the sixth novel in his series that’s centered around the character Mitch Rapp. Matthew Fox, Gerard Butler and Colin Farrell were all apparently sought for the lead role; basically, it was all moving at a fairly quick pace. Word on the project then went pretty quiet, and we’ve now learned why.

It turns out that happened because Flynn told CBS Films that he was planning to write a prequel novel for the character, which the studio could then adapt as a way of starting off a new franchise. Ed Zwick, who’s best known for directing Glory, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond and Love and Other Drugs, will be writing the script with Marshall Herskovitz. Zwick will also be directing.

The company’s president and CEO Amy Baer said that they were “prepping Consent to Kill when Vince told us he was going to tell Mitch Rapp’s origin story in American Assassin.” She said that adapting this was “a natural decision to introduce audiences to Mitch Rapp, the man before he became the legend.” Flynn described Zwick as “among the smartest and most innovative filmmakers in Hollywood.” Personally, I see him as a good choice – he’s not only talented enough, but he can also handle action stories that integrate politics into the mix [Deadline].

You can read a synopsis of the first book below, courtesy of Amazon:

“Before he was considered a CIA-super agent, before he was thought of as a terrorist’s worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a star college athlete with an untapped instinct for violence. Tensions in the Middle East are simmering when Central Intelligence Angency Director Irene Kennedy pays a visit to Syracuse University, where she hopes to recruit none other than Mitch Rapp, a student who has quickly climbed up the academic and athletic ranks. At first glance, he appears like any other smart, good-looking American college kid. Under the surface, however, a tempest rages. Tragedy entered Mitch’s life a year before when 35 of his classmates, including his girlfriend, perished on Pan Am flight 103. Since then, Mitch has grieved their senseless deaths and has felt helpless in his desire for revenge. When Kennedy arrives on campus, his career path is suddenly laid out for him. Nine months later, after gruelling training, Mitch finds himself in Istanbul on his first assignment, which is to assassinate the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the Pan Am attack. Mitch hits his target but quickly sees, for the first time, what revenge means to the enemy. When Mitch’s mentor and a fellow recruit are kidnapped and tortured by a dangerous group of Islamic jihadists, he must stop at nothing to save them.”

Have you read the book, and do you think Ed Zwick is a good choice to direct it?

Another article - it echoes my thoughts about a younger actor....

http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/cbs-films-targets-american-assassin-to-launch-mitch-rapp-franchise-sets-ed-zwick-to-direct/


CBS Films Targets 'American Assassin' To Launch Mitch Rapp Franchise, Sets Ed Zwick To Direct


EXCLUSIVE: CBS Films has redrawn its plans to launch a film franchise based on the Vince Flynn novel series about CIA agent and Mitch Rapp. Ed Zwick has come aboard to direct an adaptation of American Assassin, a bestseller published last fall by Atria. Though it was the 11th book in the Rapp series, American Assassin was a prequel that told the story of how, as a college scholar and athlete, tragedy forged Rapp’s path to become a ruthless hunter of terrorists for the CIA.

CBS Films, which first acquired the rights to Flynn’s popular book series in 2008, originally intended to start with Consent to Kill, an action-packed thriller that contains several twists that change Rapp’s life permanently. CBS Films got as far as attaching Antoine Fuqua to direct and courting Gerard Butler, Colin Farrell and Lost’s Matthew Fox to play Rapp.

Instead, Flynn’s prequel novel provided a way to start the series at the very beginning of Rapp’s covert career. That means they will tap the strong crop of young leading men, much the way that Paramount Pictures signed Chris Pine to re-launch its Jack Ryan series. Consent to Kill will come later.

Zwick is writing the script with partner Marshall Herskovitz, and they will join Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler as producers. Zwick last directed Love and Other Drugs, and Defiance and Blood Diamond before that.

“We were prepping Consent to Kill when Vince told us he was going to tell Mitch Rapp’s origin story in American Assassin,” said CBS Films president/CEO Amy Baer. “From there it was a natural decision to introduce audiences to Mitch Rapp, the man before he became the legend.”

Flynn, whose series has sold over 13 million copies in the U.S., said in a statement: “I have no doubt that Edward Zwick will do an incredible job of bringing Mitch Rapp to the big screen. Ed is among the smartest and most innovative filmmakers in Hollywood and I am fully confident that he is the right man for this job.”

This deal marks a continuing transition by CBS Films into a more active presence on the film circuit. I’d been tough on Les Moonves’ movie division and how it was shackled by a budget ceiling that forced it to look for partnerships on promising films like the Flynn series. But Baer and COO Wolfgang Hammer have been aggressive lately on several fronts. They've acquired properties with franchise potential like Marie Wu’s novel trilogy Legend and Lenore Appelhans’ young adult novel Level 2 (the movie rights were acquired before other studios got the material and the deal closed as CBS Films' sister company Simon & Schuster closed the publishing deal). CBS Films is also partnering with Warner Bros on a screen adaptation of Stephen King's seminal apocalyptic novel The Stand.

CBS Films has also been aggressive in the acquisitions space. After releasing the Jason Statham-Ben Foster-starrer The Mechanic, CBS Films acquired U.S. rights to the Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz-starrer Gambit, and the thriller The Woman in Black, the first major post-Harry Potter release for Daniel Radcliffe. CBS Films' Hammer was a player on the Croisette during the Cannes Film Festival on several completed films, most notably the John Hillcoat-directed The Wettest County in the World, which went to The Weinstein Company. That kind of aggressiveness is how you put a film shingle on the map, and Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp book series gives the division a real shot at launching a franchise. CAA reps Zwick, Flynn's repped by ICM.