Blake Lively To Star In Spy Thriller From James Bond Producers
Blake Lively is now technically only one degree of separation from a world-famous spy.
The Hollywood Reporter announces that Lively has been cast as the lead in an espionage thriller from the producers of the James Bond film series. IM Global, along with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of EON Productions, are set to produce the flick. EON Productions has been responsible for the eight most recent Bond movies.
Entitled The Rhythm Section, the upcoming picture is an adaptation of Mark Burnell's four-novel series. The film centers around Lively's character Stephanie Patrick, a woman who's shocked to discover that the freak airplane crash that killed her family wasn't an accident after all. Patrick embarks on a journey to unveil the truth behind their deaths. To bring the secrets to light, she must don the identity of an assassin and hunt down those responsible for murdering her family.
Reed Morano, who previously worked on the Hulu original series The Handmaid's Tale and on Beyonce's Lemonade, will direct. Burnell is slated to executive produce alongside Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) of IM Global.
Producers Broccoli and Wilson issued a statement expressing their excitement about the project: "It's exciting for us to be working with the immensely talented team of director Reed Morano and actress Blake Lively, who have a strong vision for this very compelling story driven by a female protagonist."
IM Global founder Stuart Ford expressed similar sentiments: "In Stephanie Patrick, Mark [Burnell] has created a unique female heroine who turns so many of the current cinematic clichés surrounding so-called 'kick-a–' female leads on their head. To be bringing such a fresh, realistic and bold international thriller to the big screen with EON Productions, Reed and Blake is an exciting proposition for us all at IM Global."
Lively's newest project is an adaptation of The Husband's Secret, a novel written by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty. The 29-year-old actress last appeared in The Shallows, directed by Suicide Squad 2 frontrunner Jaume Collet-Serra, and in Woody Allen's Cafe Society.
The Rhythm Section doesn't yet have a release date. Hopefully when the film is released, we won't have to add it to our list of greats book that were turned into awful movies.