David Fincher is teaming up with Michael Fassbender on the new Netflix project The Killer, a much-anticipated assassin drama.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the film has been picked up by Netflix and is expected to begin filming before the close of 2021.
The project is undoubtedly a favourite of Fincher’s. The Killer is originally a French graphic novel of the same name, and the filmmaker has been eying an adaptation since as far back as 2007.
It will be written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who penned Fincher’s iconic 1997 serial killer movie Seven. Walker also worked as a script doctor on Fight Club and The Game.
The graphic novel debuted in October 1998, a collaboration between writer Matz (Alexis Nolent) and artist Luc Jacamon. Fassbender will take the lead role as an assassin who begins to question his career as he suddenly develops a conscience, his psychological state soon unravelling as a result.
Combining two heavyweights of modern cinema ostensibly should make for a sure success but Fassbender needs it more than his director. The last five years of his career have been marked by poor role choices: the derided video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed and meagre psychological thriller The Snowman (he played a character called Harry Hole, if anything else need be said) were just some of the lowlights of this period.
He’ll be hoping that The Killer and Next Goal Wins, his other forthcoming role (directed by Taika Waititi) will be better-received.
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Fincher, contrastingly, is coming straight from his huge Netflix drama Mank, a biographical movie about Herman J. Mankiewicz and the legendary history of the development of the Citizen Kane screenplay. It was nominated six times at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards, including for Best Director and Best Picture.
He also understands psychological thrillers well, having directed such movies as Seven, Zodiac, and Gone Girl.
Check out the review of The Killer comic book:
