SPY HUNTER has spent a long time in what we fondly refer to as “development hell.” A style-over-substance arcade game from the early 80s that ate more than its fair share of my quarters, SPY HUNTER has languished in the proverbial Hollywood backlot as director after director has expressed interest and then moved on.
But the latest name to be attached is that of one Ruben Fleischer (GANGSTER SQUAD, ZOMBIELAND), and he has more than a mere passing interest in seeing the video game adaptation come to fruition. While nothing’s for sure yet, we’ve already seen Fleischer’s name associated with the project, and this recent statement from Fleischer himself only further serves to cement the idea that a pairing is in the making.
“We’ll see what happens. If I can make any movie, it would be a James Bond movie. I’ve always loved the genre but I don’t think they’ll hire an American to direct a James Bond movie, I’ve been told, so for me, ‘Spy Hunter’ is an opportunity to create a new spy franchise. It sounds silly but that was my favorite video game when I was a kid and it had a great title and a great theme song, but there’s no real other associations that people have with it other than a cool car, so I feel like there’s a lot of room for us to invent a new character and a new series. I think just the Spy Hunter that is the most bad-ass spy who hunts down rogue spies is a really cool launch pad for an idea and I hope that we can bring it to life.”
What do you think about Fleischer’s potential plan for SPY HUNTER? Is his heart in the right place? Is there really some room to craft an engaging story around SPY HUNTER’s scenario, and is it even worth it?
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