Tradecraft: Chris Hemsworth In Talks to Play Mitch Rapp

You know the spy genre is hot when all the rising stars attach themselves to potential spy franchises. Chris Pine is the new Jack Ryan, Tom Hardy is the new John Clark, Jeremy Renner is all the other spies. Well, not quite all of them, apparently; Deadline reports that my favorite of the up and coming male stars, Chris Hemsworth (Thor), is in talks to play Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp in CBS Films' American Assassin, the inaugural film in their long-gestating potential franchise. I haven't read any of the Mitch Rapp books, so I can't comment on his appropriateness for the part, but I do think that Chris Hemsworth has what it takes to be a real-deal action hero, and I've been hoping he would topline a spy movie sooner or later. He's certainly seems more appealing to me than some of the other names bandied about for this role, like Matthew Fox or Gerard Butler. Although American Assassin is the eleventh Mitch Rapp novel, it makes an ideal introduction to the character on film because the novel is, as the trade blog puts it, "a prequel that explains how tragedy transformed Rapp from a college scholar and athlete into a ruthless hunter of terrorists for the CIA." As previously reported, Bruce Willis is in talks to play Rapp's Agency mentor, and Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Traitor, Homeland, Legends) is directing. Mike Finch wrote the latest draft of the screenplay, polishing a version Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz worked on when Zwick was attached to helm.