According to Variety Timur (Night Watch) Bekmambetov has signed with Universal to direct the film adaptation of Mark Miller’s Wanted. It will be the Russian filmmaker's first English-language film since 2001's Arena.
The property was optioned by Universal last year, and, as mentioned, is based on the six issue miniseries by Mark Millar and JG Jones. The story tells of a young man, living in a world ruled by supervillains, who learns that he is the son of The Killer, the deadliest and most respected of all villains. As such, he is brought into the supervillain fold, where he is groomed to take his father’s place, amid dissension among the ranks.
The miniseries was among the first wave of “Millarworld” projects released by the creator. All creator-owned, the “Millarworld” titles were released through a variety of publishers, with Wanted seeing publication through Top Cow/Image.
As such, Top Cow founder and head, Marc Silvestri will serve as executive producer for the film, along the Marc Platt, Jason Netter and Jim Lemley who will produce.
The Wanted script was written by the 2 Fast 2 Furious team of Derek Haas and Michael Brand.
