Shane Black To Adapt “The Executioner”

“The Nice Guys,” “Play Dirty” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” writer/director Shane Black is set to adapt Don Pendelton’s pulpy “The Executioner” book series into a feature at Sony Pictures.

Black will reportedly write the film, with an eye to direct the project. His frequent collaborators Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry will co-write.

The story followed the adventures of Mark Bolan, a sniper turned one man army who takes on battles against the Mafia, the KGB, terrorists and cyber-criminals and more.

Joel Silver, Don Murphy and Susan Montford will produce the testosterone-fueled action project with the latter two having a big hand in sorting out the complicated screen rights surrounding the IP – bringing them all under the roof of Sony.

The series ran from 1969 to 2020, selling hundreds of millions copies worldwide and spanning 464 books initially penned by Pendelton and later ghost writers.

Previous attempts at a screen adaptation saw the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds and Bradley Cooper linked to past incarnations along with the late filmmaker William Freidkin.

Source: THR