James Bobin, helmer of The Muppets, has signed on to direct a film called Agent ZigZag for PlayTone and New Line.
/Film reports that Bobin replaced Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) in the Tom Hanks-produced film, which is currently being rewritten by Rowan Joffe (28 weeks Later).
The book by Ben Macintire (which is based on a true story) became a worldwide bestseller thanks to its exciting spy story mixed with romance and betrayal. The story follows a criminal that becomes a double agent in WWII, working for MI5 and German intelligence.
This is Amazon’s summary of the book:
London Times associate editor Macintyre (The Man Who Would Be King) adroitly dissects the enigmatic World War II British double agent Eddie Chapman in this intriguing and balanced biography. Giving little thought to the morality of his decision, Chapman offered to work as a spy for the Germans in 1940 after his release from an English prison in the Channel Islands, then occupied by the Germans. After undergoing German military intelligence training, Chapman parachuted into England in December 1942 with instructions to sabotage a De Havilland aircraft factory, but he surrendered after landing safely. Doubled by MI5 (the security service responsible for counterespionage), Chapman was used to feed vital disinformation to the enemy and was one of the few double agents to delude their german handlers until the end of the war.
Though his big screen directing talent is as of yet unproven, Bobin is still being linked to a number of projects including the long-gestating project A Confederacy of Dunces and a potential Muppets sequel.
While a project like this seems like an odd choice for a man whose most well known for The Muppets and Flight of the Conchords, we’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.
