David Fincher is set to direct The Killer.
No, don’t worry, folks – this isn’t a remake of the John Woo Hong Kong action classic (although Fincher is one of the few directors we’d trust with such a task). Instead, it’s an adaptation of a little-known French graphic novel about a professional assassin who suddenly finds that he’s being plagued, not only by a cop, but by his conscience.
Which, to be fair, isn’t too dissimilar to the story of Woo’s film. And the graphic novel, by French writer Alexis Nolent, aka Matz, was published in 1988, around the same time as Woo was working on The Killer, proving the old adage that great minds do indeed think alike.
The graphic novel was later published in the States by Archaia Studio Press, and has been picked up for Fincher to direct by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment (which will spark rumours that Pitt may want to appear in the movie, given his relationship with Fincher; they’re currently making The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, their third film together) and Alexandra Milchan.
Allesandro Camon will write the script. And yes, while the plot may seem a little hackneyed, we’d happily watch Fincher shoot paint drying, so fingers crossed that The Killer turns out to be, well, a killer movie.
NB: Curiously, there are plans to remake Woo's The Killer as a Korean movie, with the great man on board as a producer.