Back in the summer of 2008 Screen Rant reported on the fact that John McClane himself, Bruce Willis had attached himself to star in the still up and coming video game adaptation, Kane & Lynch. In case you’re not familiar with it, the game is about a former mercenary (Kane) and a psychopath (Lynch) forced to “work” together. Fast forward (or “flash forward,” to give a hat tip to ABC’s great new TV show) more than a year and we have solid confirmation of Willis’ casting from the producers of Kane & Lynch themselves.
Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter recently spoke to the guys over at Collider while at the 2009 Scream Awards where, amongst other video game adaptations, they spoke a little about Kane & Lynch. On top of letting us know about a tentative production start date of early 2010 (Spring or early Summer at the latest), they also confirmed Willis’ casting with a smooth and simple, “Bruce Willis is Kane.” They wouldn’t reveal who they have lined up as Lynch, but they said they’re announcing that pretty soon.
Game Daily also got a chance to speak to Askarieh, where he talked a little bit more about Kane & Lynch, including how Willis got interested in his now-confirmed role. He said the script has been very well received around town, and when Willis read it, he called it one of the best action scripts he’s ever read (that’s coming from the star of the Die Hard franchise!) and being the actor he is, Willis has pretty much read every action script of the last two decades (give or take a few 
).
As far as a director goes, the previously reported Simon Crane is still at the helm, making his feature-film directing debut. His credits as a Second Unit Director and a Stunt Coordinator include Tomb Raider, Quantum of Solace, Hancock and Willis’ recent sci-fi film, Surrogates. Even though the dubious combination of a first-time director and video game adaptation doesn’t exactly inspire confidence from the outset, I’m willing to give the film a chance.
Who knows – maybe Kane & Lynch will be the film that breaks the video game adaptation curse, and will lay the way for quality ones to come. Willis being one of the two leads is certainly a HUGE positive, even if the role won’t be that much of a stretch for him. Until shooting gets underway and we start to see some actual footage from the film, I’m going to reserve strong judgment.
What do you think of Willis being confirmed for the role of Kane in the Kane & Lynch movie? Have you played the game, and if so do you think it would make a good movie? Who do you have in mind for the role of Lynch?
For more information on the Kane & Lynch adaptation, as well as the other video game adaptations Askarieh and Alter have in the pipeline – including Hitman 2 - you can head over to Collider and Game Daily.
As stated, Kane & Lynch is hoped to start shooting in early 2010, but no release date has been set as of yet.
Sources: Collider, GameDaily (thanks to /Film)
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