We'll have more on American Assassin as we get closer to release. It's no low-budget tax-credit Georgia or Vancouver quickie, either: the production filmed in London, Rome, Thailand and Malta. The producers are also betting on director Michael Cuesta, known for 2014's Kill the Messenger (starring Jeremy Renner) and episodes of Homeland and Dexter.

Sannaa Lathan, Taylor Kitsch and action-guy Scott Adkins co-star. Old guys will be glad to see Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley, the Cold War veteran who trains Rapp to work for the CIA. If you haven't read the Mitch Rapp novels, Flynn fans will want you to know that he's not an CIA agent but an operative, a shadowy off-the-books figure who works with the CIA and various Special Operations units to get the job done. If O'Brien pulls off the role, he can play the part for decades to come and his popularity with a younger crowd can introduce spy thrillers to a generation who see guys like Matt Damon and Tom Cruise as someone like their dad (or even grandpa). All the old-guy Mitch Rapp fans probably haven't seen Dylan as the lead in the wildly successful Maze Runner movies but you might've seen him as a young rig worker in Deepwater Horizon last fall. The producers instead decided to do something radical (and encouraging): they went back to the beginning of the story and cast 25-year-old Dylan O'Brien as Mitch Rapp. The Mitch Rapp story begins with American Assassin, followed by Kill Shot, Transfer of Power, The Third Option, Separation of Power, Executive Power, Memorial Day, Consent to Kill, Act of Treason, Protect and Defend, Extreme Measures, Pursuit of Honor, The Last Man, The Survivor, Order to Kill, and Enemy of the State. The movie series was originally slated to begin with Consent to Kill and actors who were considered for the role included Colin Farrell and Gerard Butler. Fortunately for readers (and potential movie viewers), Flynn left behind 13 novels that feature Mitch Rapp and author Kyle Mills has taken over the series, adding two more novels (so far) to the Rapp series.Īmerican Assassin is based on the 2010 novel that flashed back to Rapp's origin story. He died young (only 47!) in 2013 after a battle with prostate cancer. Unfortunately, Vince Flynn isn't around to see the movie.

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