The upcoming movie Kane & Lynch is one of a slew of video-game adaptations that are currently heading for cinema screens, and another one that promises a great deal of action; as it’s based on the Eidos game of the same name (with the subtitle, Dead Men), that revolves around Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus, and James Seth Lynch, who are two death-row inmates who break out of prison, and are subsequently forced to locate a large sum of stolen money for a notorious gang, after Kane’s family becomes threatened; but now, with the start date looming rather close, the movie’s director, stunt coordinator Simon Crane, has left the production.
His departure has come as a bit of a shock, as to everyone watching, production appeared to be going ahead without a hitch (it’s even so far down the line as to have had posters advertising it at this year’s Cannes Film Festival), and while the reasons still aren’t entirely clear, the official spin is that things were simply “not working out” owing to creative differences between Crane and the studio.
After his departure, Millennium reportedly had a meeting with F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job), who turned down the chance to direct. A chance which is now back at the negotiating table, and being pondered over by Wayne Kramer (Crossing Over); who’s direct-to-video movie Running Scared proves that he can successfully capture some fairly violent, and gritty, gunplay (something which would come in extremely handy in the world of Kane & Lynch).
And although the director has walked away, the cast are still, most definitely, attached to the film; Bruce Willis (Surrogates) will be playing the role of Kane, a father who is forced to become a mercenary, and work with the schizophrenic, psychopathic, killer, Lynch (who will be played by Law Abiding Citizen’s Jamie Foxx), in order to retrieve a stolen microchip, and save his family.
The script has been written by Kyle Ward, who also written the script for Hitman 2 (which is another upcoming adaption of an Eidos video-game), and as both it, and the cast, are rearing to go, the studio had best lock-in a director quick, as both fans of the game, and action movies, are dying to see the film that Bruce Willis (John McClane from Die Hard) has described as “the best action script he’s ever read.”
