Jonathan Levine in Talks to Direct Dead Spy Running

Twitchfilm reports (via Dark Horizons) that indie director Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Wackness) is now in negotiations to direct Dead Spy Running at Warner Brothers. Dead Spy Running is based on a book by Jon Stock that I liked a lot (read my review here), and it has the potential to make a very good movie. It's road to the screen has been longer than anyone would have expected when the rights were snapped up by Warner Brothers prior to publication. At that time, McG (This Means War) was set to direct. Subsequently, we learned that Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) was penning the adaptation, and at some point along the way he was also set to take over the directing reins from McG, making his helming debut. Now, according to the website, Gaghan has moved on, and Levine is in talks to direct from a script by Gaghan and Jamie Moss (Street Kings). I'm curious to see what he does with it. The studio is hoping to launch a franchise capable of competing with Uni's Bourne series. Indeed, Stock's Dead Spy Running is the first book in a trilogy. The next, Games Traitors Play, is due out in the U.S. at the end of this month.