We’re about to see the start of the Venice Film Festival which includes the premiere of David Fincher‘s upcoming thriller “The Killer,” based on the French graphic novel (written by Alexis Nolent a.k.a Matz and illustrated by Luc Jacamon) with Michael Fassbender set to play a skilled assassin in the Netflix film. It will also see Fincher reuniting, yet again, with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross after previously working with the composing duo on films such as “Mank,” “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” “Gone Girl,” and “The Social Network.”
Ahead of the festival kicking off, Netflix has released some promotional materials for “The Killer” including a teaser poster and a first-look trailer (See both below). The rest of the cast consists of Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O’Malley, Sophie Charlotte, Sala Baker, Emiliano Pernía, and Gabriel Polanco.
Netflix has provided us with the film’s official logline:
After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
Fincher said the following about the film during a statement for the Venice Film Festival via ThePlaylist:
“‘The Killer’ is my attempt to reconcile notions I’ve had for years about cinematic stories and their telling. I have always held: “What were you doing in Chinatown?… As little as possible”—to be the single greatest evocation of backstory I’ve ever heard. I was also playfully curious about the revenge genre as a tension delivery system. So when Mr. Walker came aboard and fully embraced these notions/ questions about broad brushstrokes of understanding giving way to the blind stitch of “moment expansion” – I felt we needed to try something. Mr. Fassbender’s 3-hour response time for: “Yes, let’s!” sealed it for us both, and, of course, we all wanted Tilda (Mr. Walker wrote it with her in mind—but please don’t tell Ms. Swinton, she could become insufferable if she knows literally everyone feels this way about her.)“
You can watch that aforementioned first-look trailer below.
David Ficher is returning to genre filmmaking. His latest pic, The Killer, will see actor Michael Fassbender play an assassin in adaptation of the Alexis Nolent’s graphic novel that will have a script from Se7en’s Andrew Kevin Walker.
A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass, this is a case study of a man alone, armed to the teeth and slowly losing his mind.
The Playlist got word directly from Tilda Swinton in a recent interview that she has joined the cast of the action thriller.
Filming is expected to begin next year in Paris, France with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (Mank).
While this is the first graphic novel/comic book adaptation for David Fincher, it won’t be his first attempt to tackle genre material as his first feature film was Alien 3 and had been trying to direct a sequel to Brad Pitt’s World War Z until things fell apart.
We couldn’t be more excited about David Fincher returning to the thriller genre and his upcoming film The Killer sounds like something fans can really get behind. It will see him work with actor Michael Fassbender as an assassin in adaptation of the Alexis Nolent’s graphic novel that will have a script from Se7en’s Andrew Kevin Walker.
A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass, this is a case study of a man alone, armed to the teeth and slowly losing his mind.
Spanish outlet El Diario Vasco (via The Film Stage) spoke with Mank’s Oscar-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, who confirmed his involvement and that they’re hoping to begin shooting this November in Paris, France. Messerschmidt’s previous credits include Raised By Wolves, Legion, Fargo, and Mindhunter.
While not officially attached for a role, Mank actress Lily Collins was spotted meeting with David Fincher in Paris and could signal she’ll join Michael Fassbender in the thriller.
Fassbender has completed production on Taika Waititi’s sports drama Next Goal Wins and David Sandberg’s satirical action flick Kung Fury 2. His recent films Dark Phoenix, The Snowman, Alien: Covenant, and Assassin’s Creed haven’t be huge box office successes, I’m sure the actor is hopeful The Killer will have a greater impact with audiences.
While this is the first graphic novel/comic book adaptation for David Fincher, it won’t be his first attempt to tackle genre material as his first feature film was Alien 3 and had been trying to direct a sequel to Brad Pitt’s World War Z until things fell apart.
A release date has yet to be announced but the film is produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, and will hit Netflix at some point in 2022.
It’s exciting that Marvel Studios has regained the film rights to Fantastic Four and Silver Silver, allowing them to finally use some of their most iconic and well-known characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe either in films or series airing on Disney+. Norrin Radd aka The Silver Surfer, the herald of Galactus, was co-created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The Marvel Comics character first appeared in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1966. Arguably one of the more popular cosmic characters that had been introduced from that era of comics and appeared in a handful of animated projects.
20th Century Fox attempted to develop a solo film in the 1990s and hired a large group of writers to tackle the script with various drafts. Those screenwriters working over the years included John Turman (Hulk, Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer), Richard Jefferies (TRON: Legacy, Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer), John Rice (Windtalkers, Blown Away), Rudy Gains (The Calling), Mike Finch (American Assassin, Predators, John Wick: Chapter 4, Hitman: Agent 47), John M. Bergmann, Bernd Eichinger (Downfall, Perfume: The Story of A Murderer, The Baader Meinhof Complex), and Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en, The Wolfman, 8mm).
One of the big standouts was James Gunn (The Suicide Squad, Guardians of The Galaxy 1-3, Slither, Dawn of The Dead, Super), as the filmmaker revealed on Facebook that he was approached by the studio in 1999 to write an “extensive treatment” for Silver Surfer.
GUNN: “When I first moved to LA in 1999, one of the first people I met on a meeting was an exec at Fox. He told me they wanted to make a Silver Surfer movie, and I might be right for that, so I wrote an extensive treatment. It was a huge story, cosmic as hell, and featured the Silver Surfer turning on Galactus (but no Fantastic Four – this was before the first FF film).”
Eventually, 20th Century Fox got their Silver Surfer project with Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer in 2007 with Doug Jones (Hellboy 1-2, The Shape of Water) playing the body and Laurence Fishburne (John Wick: Chapter 2, The Matrix Trilogy, Ant-Man & The Wasp) becoming Norrin Radd’s voice.
There had been plans of giving Silver Surfer a spinoff after the Fantastic Four sequel and they hired writer J. Michael Straczynski to tackle it in 2007. The seasoned screenwriter’s credits include Babylon 5, Thor, Sense8, Underworld: Awakening, Ninja Assassin, World War Z, Changeling, The Real Ghostbusters, Captain Power, He-Man & The Masters of The Universe, and She-Ra: Princess of Power.
Two years later, Straczynski mentioned in an interview that the sequel not meeting the studio’s expectations led Fox to question making a direct spinoff.
STRACZYNSKI: “What happened was when FF2 didn’t do as well as they hoped it would do, it caused them to call into question a Silver Surfer movie. The script that I wrote picked up right where FF2 left off. So if they do a Silver Surfer film down the road, it’ll have to be its own separate [thing].”
Director Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) debunked a rumor he was going to direct the movie while speaking at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 via Slash Film.
PROYAS: “Unfortunately that is just a rumor. I don’t know where that came from. I do like Silver Surfer, but I’m not going to be doing it.”
In 2018, it was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that comic book and television writer Brian K. Vaughn (The Great Machine, Y: The Last Man, Saga, Lost, M.A.S.K.) was developing a solo Silver Surfer movie before the merger with Disney in 2019 seemingly nixed those plans alongside a bulk of Marvel projects that Fox was developing at the time.
Marvel Studios now has control of the character and announced a new Fantastic Four movie in December that will be directed by Jon Watts, who helmed their Spider-Man trilogy.
Filmmaker Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short, Ant-Man) stated he was interested in a Silver Surfer movie while speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. In the chat, he cited The Wachowskis’ stylized Speed Racer movie as inspiration.
MCKAY: “Silver Surfer man, that’s the one I want to do. I would do anything to do Silver Surfer because visually….could do what the Wachowskis did with Speed Racer, with the Silver Surfer. At the same time, there’s a great emotional story in there man. Where a guy has to choose to save his planet. You know Norrin Radd has to save his planet…that, that would be the one.I think they’re kicking around a Nova idea.”
While speaking with MTV at the 2019 Gloden Globes, Adam suggested there was some “discussion” and Marvel’s Kevin Feige at the same event seemed open to the idea of meeting with him about the project.
MCKAY: “(Laughs) There actually has been some discussion about Silver Surfer. My agent certainly woke up. They were excited. We’re in the middle of, you know, backing Vice right now, but, who knows, in a couple of months it could pop up. I really am excited by that idea. So, we’ll see what happens.”
FEIGE: “I’ve not gotten a call yet, but I’ve seen Adam tonight and at a number of these awards, he is as everyone knows an incredibly smart guy he’s an honest to goodness fan and you know did a lot of behind the scenes work on the first Ant-Man film and have you seen Vice? A little cameo, a little Galatcus cameo in there that we helped him get. So I look forward to speaking to him more.”
We still don’t know if Norinn Radd will be part of Marvel’s new Fantastic Four franchise (expected) or if Adam McKay will get to make his solo film as Marvel Studios hasn’t officially announced any plans concerning Silver Surfer. However, there are plenty of casting ideas making the rounds online and figured I’d mention the people I think would be a good fit in the role that would likely be a mix of live-action and motion-capture.
LAKEITH STANFIELD (AGE 29): Get Out, Uncut Gems, Judas & The Black Messiah, Knives Out, Atlanta, The Girl In The Spider’s Web, War Machine, Dope, Short Term 12, and Straight Outta Compton.
RYAN GOSLING (AGE 40): The Nice Guys, Blade Runner 2049, Drive, Only God Forgives, Half Nelson, Remember The Titans, The Place Beyond The Pines, First Man, La La Land, and The Gray Man.
BRAD PITT (AGE 57): Fight Club, Snatch, Killing Them Softly, Inglourious Basterds, Se7en, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Moneyball, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Troy, Ocean’s Eleven, The Big Short, Interview With A Vampire, Fury, Legends of The Fall, True Romance, The Devil’s Own, and Bullet Train.
Deadline is reporting that director David Fincher will be reuniting screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker for a feature film adaption of the graphic novel The Killer from Alexis Nolent.
The writer previously wrote screenplays for Fincher’s Fight Club, Se7en, The Game, and Panic Room. Walker also tackled scripts for Joel Schumacher’s 8mm and Joe Johnston’s Universal Monster remake The Wolfman.
Michael Fassbender is currently in talks for the lead role but the outlet couldn’t confirm.
A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he’s losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass, this is a case study of a man alone, armed to the teeth and slowly losing his mind.
Given David Fincher’s deal with Netflix, it’s expected that the project will land at the streaming giant. The director recently working with them on his Hollywood drama Mank, about the development of the script for the iconic film Citizen Kane.
THE RONIN 