Director Doug Liman decides All You Need Is Kill

After pondering the possibility for a few months, director Doug Liman (THE BOURNE IDENTITY) will direct Warner Bros.’ high-priced futuristic action movie ALL YOU NEED IS KILL.

Adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s tale of tech and death, the story is kind of a heady sci-fi GROUNDHOG DAY with a STARSHIP TROOPERS kicker. The book synopsis: There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again…When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War. Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death?

The studio plunked down over a million bucks for the script from Dante Harper, who worked directly with the producers and rights-holders before taking it to studios (part of the deal was that production would occur within 12 months). Fingers crossed that Liman isn’t allowed to muck with the script and crank out more MR. & MRS. SMITH or JUMPER style stupidity.

Before KILL, Liman was planning a THREE MUSKETEERS movie with WB but was beaten to the rapier by Paul WS Anderson, whose own 3D version of the Dumas classic has already gone before cameras. Liman’s policital thriller FAIR GAME opens in November.