After shelling out $4 million to buy the rights in 2005, Paramount has finally locked in a possible director for its adaptation of Robert Ludlum's political thriller The Chancellor Manuscript. And that director? Quantum Of Solace's Marc Forster.
The studio has also nabbed Peter O'Brien to write a new script based on the book, which focuses on an author who writes a conspiracy novel about Washington power brokers being blackmailed into changing US policies.
Trouble is, he's closer to the truth than he knows, and when some operatives get a copy of his manuscript, they figure he's about to reveal their plan and try to hunt him down.
Adding to Paramount's urgency in getting the film moving along (aside from the fact that Ludlum is seen as a hot property given the success of the Bourne adventures) is the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star as novelist Peter Chancellor.