How to be Robert Ludlum: Take a vaguely WASP-y surname (Bourne, Osterman, Holcroft). Combine with a noun, randomly picked from the dictionary (Identity, Protocol, Agenda, Countdown). Precede with the definite article. Add generic thriller plotline. Die. Sell to major movie studio. The success of the Bourne trilogy (despite none of the three films bearing much resemblance to Ludlum’s novels) has made the late writer, who died in 2001, a hot property in Hollywood, with the likes of “The Matarese Circle,” which at one point was set to star Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise, continuing to be developed, in the hopes of replicating the success of the Matt Damon franchise.
Paramount paid a whopping $4 million for the novelist’s 1977 work “The Chancellor Manuscript,” a Washington-set thriller about a successful thriller writer who comes up with a plotline involving a shady group of D.C. power brokers, which turns out to be too close to the truth. It’s been developed with the intention of becoming a vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio, and the project now has a director, in the shape of Swiss helmer Marc Forster.
Did they see “Quantum of Solace?” Forster’s a competent director, and clearly works well with actors, but he’s firmly middle-of-the-road, and his Bond entry showed that he has no idea how to direct action. Despite the presence of “Bourne” second unit director Dan Bradley, the sequences in “Solace” had no sense of geography, and were near incoherent for the most part. Maybe he’s learned from that experience, but he doesn’t seem like the best choice for this one. Still we’re happy to be surprised. The script’s being rewritten by Peter O’Brien, whose thriller “Unlocked” made the 2008 Black List, and we imagine this’ll move forward fairly quickly, assuming DiCaprio’s schedule lines up.