Taylor Kitsch Nabs Villain Role In American Assassin

Taylor Kitsch has clinched the villain role in Michael Cuesta’s upcoming thriller American Assassin, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

An adaptation of  Vince Flynn’s novel of the same name, American Assassin has entered pre-production at CBS Films and Lionsgate, with Michael Keaton and Dylan O’Brien – who is, thankfully, nearing a full recovery after the severe injury suffered while filming The Maze Runner – already on board.

Stephen Schiff is the scribe attached to adapt Flynn’s source material, chronicling the rise and rise of O’Brien’s Mitch Rapp, an “Arab linguistics who joins the CIA as an assassin after his girlfriend is killed in a terrorist attack. Keaton is playing his reluctant mentor, a Cold War veteran. When the two are enlisted by the CIA to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets, the tracks lead to a mysterious operative intent on starting a World War in the Middle East.”

That “mysterious operative” and fire-starter eager to instigate a full-blown war in the Middle East will be portrayed by Kitsch who, despite a woeful streak in the blockbuster space thanks in no part to Battleship and John Carter, has flexed his acting chops before on Lone Survivor and True Detective season 2. He’s also lined up parts in both Granite Mountain and Pieces, with the latter offering Kitsch chance to step behind the lens.

Eyeing locations across London and Budapest, American Assassin currently has its crosshairs placed on a September start date.