When Empire spoke exclusively to Proof and Shakespeare In Love director John Madden recently, we naturally felt obliged to ask him about his next project, the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot.
It's quite a departure for Madden. "Yes, I suppose it is – I've directed thrillers before, just not as feature films," he explained. "And it's a pretty unusual thriller, this one, because it's Elmore Leonard, the emphasis is entirely on character. It's got a wonderful story, but he writes everything from the point of view of character. I think that probably would be a component of any film that I would make, but it's a terrific piece."
The film counts the Weinstein brothers and Quentin Tarantino among its executive producers, and the story revolves around a husband and wife who are placed in the witness protection program, only to be found and targeted by two separate hitmen - one old and grizzled, the other a young upstart.
There's been a considerable amount of speculation concerning the cast (including the rumoured involvement of Justin Timberlake), so we thought we got a few rumours cleared up, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. "Yeah, it's been weird – at one point, according to IMDb, Karen Allen was starring in the film. But it's actually Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Johnny Knoxville and Rosario Dawson."