Makings of a killer
> Based on a best-selling book series by late author Vince Flynn, American Assassin traces the origins of super-agent Mitch Rapp
AONE-OF-A-KIND American assassin who possesses savage skills and a ferocious drive for payback is born, in this non-stop action-espionage thriller rooted in the raw reality of today’s hard-todetect enemies, invisible black ops, high-level surveillance, portable nukes and murky agendas.
Based on the mega-best-selling book series by the late Vince Flynn, American Assassin introduces film audiences to one of contemporary fiction’s most popular heroes working in the shadows: CIA super-agent Mitch Rapp.
American Assassin traces Rapp’s origins from heartbroken fiancé, to cunning renegade, to off-the-charts CIA trainee, to his first mission on the trail of 15 kilos of stolen plutonium.
The film brings together rising star Dylan O’Brien – who portrays the no-holds-barred Rapp for the first time on screen – with Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Michael Keaton as legendary CIA trainer Stan Hurley.
Seeking to right his own devastating mistakes, Hurley prepares Rapp to join Orion, the most deeply concealed network within the CIA.
But even as Hurley teaches Rapp that spy work can’t be personal, Rapp makes personal connections that help him penetrate a web of mercenaries, arms dealers, extremists, and an angry ex-agent not unlike himself, all colluding to spark a new World War.
Director Michael Cuesta ( Homeland) said: “This is the origin story of Mitch Rapp – I’m excited to have fans of the books and everyone else get to see Dylan become Mitch.
“Dylan has a very contemporary appeal as an action star for this millennia, and I think audiences are going to love his interaction with Michael Keaton, who nails Hurley’s tough-guy persona like a 21st Century John Wayne.”
Flynn first introduced Rapp in 1999 as an already-veteran CIA asset reserved for the most precarious missions in Transfer of Power, in which a terrorist attack turns the entire White House into a hostage situation, with Rapp sent in as the last-ditch commando to save the very same US government that rankles him.
It was an instant hit, praised by Publisher’s Weekly as offering “endless intrigue”.
The book then set off a rapidfire series encompassing 13 Mitch Rapp novels written by Flynn.
In 2010, Flynn responded to fans’ fervent calls to hit the rewind button – and at last, he gave readers the story they wanted: Rapp’s origins, exploring how a lonely, emotionally-wounded child fresh out of college became every terrorist’s worst nightmare.
This was American Assassin, and it would become one of his most critically-praised and beloved books, as it laid out Rapp’s tormented past.
Tragically, in 2013, Flynn passed away at the age of 46 of prostate cancer. Subsequent Rapp novels were written by Kyle Mills, chosen to keep the series going.
But before Flynn’s death, he made a deal with di Bonaventura and Wechsler to bring Rapp’s post-millennial brand of spycraft to today’s movie audiences.
Keaton was drawn to a mix of elements that are very 2017, but with Flynn’s unique view on modern espionage.
“The script made real changes from the book – but I felt it kept the core of what Vince was trying to say, while complicating things morally and globally in a very intriguing way,” he says.
Cuesta was attracted to a story that is both global in nature, and bucks the stereotypes to explore the drives and consequences of terror on a more personal level.
He was also drawn to the story’s mounting momentum and wanted that acceleration to be real and visceral for the audience without ever becoming comic book or fantastical.
“I love that there’s a real sense of geopolitical movement as well as psychological movement in this story,” says Cuesta.
“My approach was to never overtly stylise the story – but rather to ground things in reality, as Flynn did in his books, even in the most intense action.”
It was O’Brien’s turn as the maze-escaping Thomas in the hit dystopian series The Maze Runner that convinced the filmmakers that he had the blend of gutsiness and self-driven confidence to embody Rapp as a haunted young man.
O’Brien says: “What’s cool about American Assassin is that you get to see where Mitch Rapp started, and you get to follow his personal path into this world of the CIA, driven by his own urge for vengeance that he has to learn to control.
“When I started talking to guys who work for the CIA, I discovered that often they have similar kinds of stories, where some dark, harsh experience set them down the road of becoming an agent; and often, that story still drives them to this day.” – TGV Pictures Sdn Bhd