Off the back of his tremendously successful young adult adaptation, Divergent, Neil Burger has now signed on to direct All The Old Knives for Chockstone Pictures.
The spy thriller will be an adaptation of Olen Steinhauer’s upcoming novel of the same name. Chockstone’s Steve Schwartz, Paula May Schwartz and Nick Wechsler optioned the rights back in April. The novel will hit shelves next March, with the adaptation sticking closely to the plot. Which, according to Deadline will be set:
“… in the idyllic town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, where two ex-lovers — one CIA spy and one ex-CIA spy — meet for dinner and to reminisce. They relive their memories of the disastrous hijacking of Royal Jordanian Flight 127, which ended in the death of all on board, a failure that haunts the CIA’s Vienna station to this day. The question is whether Henry has come to dinner to rekindle the romance or to get to the bottom of a conspiracy. It also becomes clear that one of the ex-lovers may not survive the meal.”
With a handful of successes under his belt (Limitless, Divergent and The Illusionist), Burger is steadily becoming a rrecognizablename. He will be directing the spy thriller based on a script by Steinhauer. A screenplay that has Burger excited to get cracking:
“Olen Steinhauer has written a fantastic, suspenseful, sophisticated drama set in the world of the CIA. As a director, I love that it’s a tightly woven puzzle, a mystery involving counter-terrorism and also a mystery of the human heart. Best of all are the two very clever and calculating characters at the center of the story who are dealing with issues of loyalty, sacrifice and a lot of sexual tension. I can’t wait to start casting them.”
For a script and source material that are currently unavailable to the public, we’re interpreting Burger’s enthusiasm as confirmation that the book’s a knockout. Speaking of casting, the producers made it known their eagerness to get the project rolling when they stated that “Prior to attaching Neil, a number of leading actors were already circling the project. Now with Neil aboard, we will immediately start casting.”
This can only mean one thing: we can expect casting news for All The Old Knives sooner rather than later.
