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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 9 September 2017
How ‘American Assassin’ took

a long, twisting path to film

By JEFF BAENEN “We weren’t at an urgent Runner” and TV’s “Teen
Associated Press level but we were ap- Wolf.” O’Brien did about
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — After proaching them,” he said. eight weeks of training, go-
twists and turns worthy of Filmmakers also had to ing to a gym with his trainer
the very spy series it sprung wait while O’Brien recov- every day and learning dif-
from, a movie featuring the ered from an injury suffered ferent martial arts.
indomitable fictional ter- during an accident while CBS Films’ “American As-
rorism fighter Mitch Rapp is filming a “Maze Runner” sassin,” distributed by Li-
about to hit movie screens sequel in 2016. Finally the onsgate, cost about $40
nationwide — four years af- 55-day shoot began last million, modest by action
This Sept. 2, 2005 file photo shows best-selling author Vince Flynn ter his creator, author Vince September and jumped movie standards. Produc-
in the library of his Edina, Minn. home. Flynn, died from prostate from London to Rome and ers hope to carve out their
Associated Press cancer. Malta before finishing in own share of the market
“American Assassin ,” the Thailand. when the movie opens the
first movie based on a Flynn Changes were made to weekend after Stephen
best-seller, premieres Sept. the plot of the film. Instead King’s killer clown movie
15, featuring Dylan O’Brien of having Rapp out for ven- “It” and before the sequel
(“The Maze Runner”) as geance after his girlfriend is to the hit spy satire “Kings-
Rapp and Michael Keaton killed in the 1988 Lockerbie man.”
as his weathered mentor, bombing, the movie moves And the Mitch Rapp se-
Stan Hurley, on a mission the action to present day ries continues after Flynn’s
to avert nuclear war in the with Rapp’s fiancee slain in death. Writer Kyle Mills has
Middle East. a terrorist beach massacre continued the book series
Getting Rapp to the big in Spain. That creates an or- — “Enemy of the State,”
screen has been a de- igin story and places Rapp, his third installment, was re-
cade-long odyssey, said who is 23 in the story, closer leased Sept. 5 — and Mills
“American Assassin” pro- in age to the 26-year-old has signed on for another
ducer Lorenzo di Bonaven- O’Brien. three books.
tura, a fan of the series who “We were not making a pe- “These books are very pa-
got to know Flynn before riod piece,” said co-screen- triotic and they’re violent
his death in 2013. writer Stephen Schiff, who and they’re ripped from
“When Vince died we re- said he came up with the the headlines,” said Emily
doubled our efforts to get beach massacre opening. Bestler, Flynn’s longtime ed-
this made. “That seems like no way to itor at Atria Books. Doubt-
I owed him that,” said di Bo- launch a franchise.” ers early on thought there
naventura, who produced Eighteen months after the would not be a movie au-
the Transformers movies. beach murder, Rapp is re- dience for such flag-wav-
Flynn, a native of St. Paul, cruited by a CIA leader ing fare, Bestler said, “but
wrote 14 political thrillers, played by Sanaa Lathan we knew there would be.”
starting with his self-pub- for intense training by Hur- “If you read the papers,
lished “Term Limits” in 1997, ley and given a mission to you’re not sure we’re win-
and featured his CIA coun- stop a former Hurley prote- ning,” Bestler said. “You
terterrorism operative Rapp ge known as Ghost (played sit down with one of these
in 13. His books have sold by Taylor Kitsch) from start- books and we win, and it
nearly 20 million copies in ing a world war. (In a nod feels really, really good.”
the U.S. and millions more to Rapp’s creator, a battle- Producers hope “American
worldwide, and include ship in the film’s thrilling cli- Assassin” leads to a Mitch
former Presidents Bill Clin- max was named Flynn). Rapp franchise (“Kill Shot,”
ton and George W. Bush Director Michael Cuesta, the next book in the series,
among fans. whose credits include the is being considered for a
But making a Mitch Rapp movie “Kill the Messenger” sequel), and the publisher
movie proved elusive. and the Showtime series has released paperback
Originally Flynn’s novel “Homeland,” was quick to tie-ins to the movie.
“Consent to Kill” was con- praise his star. “I would love for this movie
sidered, then put aside. “I think Dylan brought an to be a part of bringing a
“Training Day” director An- innocence and a boyish- whole new generation of
toine Fuqua originally was ness, boy-next-door quality Mitch Rapp fans into book-
attached to direct “Ameri- to the character,” he said. stores and movie theaters,”
can Assassin,” but moved “Dylan doesn’t look like Bestler said.
on to direct “Olympus Has your typical assassin.” Flynn’s widow, Lysa Flynn,
Fallen.” Chris Hemsworth O’Brien said he was taken said she is glad the produc-
passed on the lead role be- with the story of Rapp’s ers never gave up.
cause of scheduling issues, journey from young man — “This is a happy time.
and Bruce Willis was inter- “a wounded human” — to It’s just such an honor to see
ested in playing Hurley but assassin. the movie finally happen-
no deal was made. “I thought that was a re- ing,” she said, adding that
Producers had to get cam- ally fresh concept,” said Vince Flynn will “always live
eras rolling before the film O’Brien, who is making his on in his books.
rights reverted to Flynn’s es- own transition from the It’s like having him back for
tate, di Bonaventura said. teen roles of “The Maze a time.”q