Despite PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 bringing in substantially less than the first film, Kevin James will continue to get leading roles in major studio projects that play on his heavyset man-child shtick that doesn't seem to entertain anyone. Now, a screenplay on the prestigious Black List will become a star vehicle for James and will be directed by KICK-ASS 2's Jeff Wadlow.
Deadline reports that Kevin James will play the lead role in THE TRUE MEMOIRS OF AN INTERNATIONAL ASSASSIN. Lest you think this will be very different from PAUL BLART, I should warn you it comes from the same producers. Here's the synopsis.
James will put away the Segway and play a mild-mannered accountant and would-be author who gets mistaken for a killer-for-hire when his fictional novel about an international assassin is published as a true story. He heads to Belize to escape his sudden celebrity, but gets entangled in an assassination plot. Thrown into a world of real danger, he must find a way to channel his lead character Colt Rodgers and save the day.
The producers claim the film will show us a badass side of Kevin James we have never seen before. While I find that hard to believe, nowhere is the film described as a comedy or an action film which leads me to think it is going to be the same style as PAUL BLART. But, if Wadlow brings his same style used in KICK-ASS 2 to the movie, there is a slight chance this could end up being an interesting project. A very slight chance.