Michael Fassbender has found his next starring role. The two-time Oscar nominee is set to star in spy thriller Malko at Lionsgate, which is based on Gerard de Villiers‘ bestselling S.A.S. book series, which has sold over 120 million copies worldwide.
This film will be largely based on de Villiers’ Checkpoint Charlie. Lionsgate recently acquired the worldwide feature rights to the entire series of 200 novels (yes, really). They’ve tapped American Hustle writer Eric Warren Singer to pen the script.
The S.A.S. franchise follows Malko Linge, an Austrian nobleman and freelance CIA operative who spent his formative years in a special Nazi work camp for captured spies. There, he learned the intricate dark arts of tradecraft from the very best. Now an adult, Malko becomes a spy for hire, with the advantage that he is an agent without an agency, and works only according to his own moral code.
In addition to starring, Fassbender will also produce alongside Lars Sylvest and Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker). Lionsgate boss Joe Drake said of the project: “This is a character with a tremendous 200-title library of amazing spy stories to draw from, and we believe we have a world-class creative team in place with Michael and Eric Warren Singer as we move forward on this project”.
Since his two Oscar nominations, Fassbender hasn’t had the greatest run. He starred in disappointing video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed and the grisly-reviewed abomination, The Snowman. He can currently be seen playing Magneto in the lacklustre X-Men finale, Dark Phoenix. So he needs a hit.
Malko could exactly that. Many have campaigned for Fassbender to be James Bond, and while that looks unlikely, perhaps this could be a solid fallback option. After all, the character is described as having “a wicked wit and a lust for all things in life, even the things that might kill him” thanks to growing up “in the face of death”.
There’s no doubt going to be some Bond vibes in a series of novels that began in the 1960s and has ran into the 2010s. If Fassbender can harness that, and Singer can deliver the sort of script that helped American Hustle pop from time to time, Malko could be the start of something big. Lionsgate has obviously pegged it as a potential franchise starter.
We’ll wait and see who is brought on board to direct. That could be key. Before all this kicks off, Fassbender will spend his summer shooting the full-length version of the popular action comedy short, Kung Fury.
#Peace.Love.Malko
