Focus Features has picked up the film rights to the upcoming novel To Die In Vienna by Kevin Wignall and attached Jake Gyllenhaal to star in the film adaptation, which will have the alternate title of Welcome To Vienna. The actor will also produce through his production company, Nine Stories.
Gyllenhaal is set to play Freddie, a civilian surveillance contractor who interrupts a break-in at his apartment while he’s spying on a Chinese academic in Vienna. The intruder initially escapes, but returns and attempts to kill Freddie, making him a man on the run. His only hope for survival is that his pursuer doesn’t know about the past he’s running from.
The film is being pitched as a modern take on the surveillance thriller, and looks to continue Gyllenhaal’s successful run in thrillers over the past half-decade after appearing in films such as Prisoners, Nightcrawler and Nocturnal Animals.
He’s also got another thriller lined up where he’s set to star alongside Rene Russo in Dan Gilroy‘s untitled horror-thriller for Netflix, which features a plot about big-money artists and mega collectors.
The novel will be published in June, but Focus must be pretty confident in the source material to have secured the rights to it before it even hits the shelves. If it matches the quality of the other recent Gyllenhaal-led thrillers, the film adaptation will be worth seeing.
#Peace.Love.WelcomeToVienna
