When it comes to spy thriller franchises, old is new again. Tom Cruise and Matt Damon made contemporary film takes on a 60's TV series and a 80's spy novel series into two successful franchises.
Even the grandaddy of spy film characters, James Bond, is going back to his 50's espionage novel roots with Daniel Craig in tow. Now, Hugh Jackman is trying to join the fray .
Variety reports that Jackman's Seed Productions has made a deal with Fox 2000 to turn the Robert Littell spy novel "The Amateur" into an action vehicle that Jackman will star in and produce.
Jackman will play a CIA cryptographer whose fiancee is killed in a suspicious plane crash. When he discovers that the plane was brought down by terrorists, he finds the leverage that forces his bosses to train him to exact revenge.
Littell's novel was set during the Cold War and was previously turned into a 1981 film starring John Savage & Christopher Plummer.
"24" executive producer Evan Katz will write the script which will contemporize the tale whilst using the book as source
One wonders when the likes of great espionage films like "Three Days of the Condor", or books like "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "The Osterman Weekend" will get new versions.
