Remember last February when Jason Statham was set to star in D.J. Caruso’s adaptation of Jay Bonansinga’s 1997 novel, Killer’s Game? Well, that’s over and done, and as long as it takes for proper developments to cook with feature films, we now have word from Jeff Sneider at Collider that Dave Bautista (Hotel Artemis, Blade Runner 2049) is taking a stab at the pic.
The fourth and latest actor known to be chosen for the long-gestating project, Bautista will star as Joe Flood, a principled, veteran assassin who learns he is dying. Thinking his days are numbered, he stakes a multi-million dollar prize on his own life, only to realize that he’s been misdiagnosed and is still in perfect health, and is now forced into a breakneck fight for survival against hungry gamesmen out for blood and a six-figure boost.
Steve Richards will produce with Andrew Lazar of Mad Chance. The project hails from STX Entertainment which also houses one of several releases headlining the recent WWE retiree: Peter Seagal’s buddy action comedy, My Spy. The actor and former wrestler also has Stuber from 20th Century Fox in which he’s billed with Kumail Nanjiani and Iko Uwais, and the April 26 release of Avengers: Endgame from Disney.
Bautista is also currently filming Denis Villenueve’s Dune remake for Warner Bros. and is also set to star in Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead for Netflix. For what it’s worth, he also has a third and proud reunion waiting in the wings with director James Gunn for a forthcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 3. from Marvel Studios and Disney.