Tradecraft: Bruce Willis to Mentor Mitch Rapp?

Variety reports that Bruce Willis is in talks to join the cast of CBS Films' inaugural Mitch Rapp thriller, American Assassin. The studio has been trying to bring Vince Flynn's CIA hero to the big screen for quite a while now, initially aiming to adapt Consent to Kill, but later opting to begin with the prequel novel American Assassin, which tells Rapp's origin story. That's similar to Paramount's strategy with Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, a character the studio plans to reintroduce to the viewing public via an original origin tale. In that movie, Kevin Costner will play Jack Ryan's CIA mentor; in this one, that's the role Willis is circling: Rapp's CIA mentor. Rapp himself has yet to be cast. As previously reported, Traitor's Jeffrey Nachmanoff will direct. Mike Finch penned the script, which, according to the trade, "revolves around Mitch Rapp, a former Syracuse grad student who joins the CIA after his girlfriend his killed by a terrorist attack. Willis will play a CIA operative who serves as a mentor to Rapp."