F. Gary Gray To Be New Director For ‘Kane & Lynch’

When most comic properties dry up, the obvious next medium for Hollywood to take advantage of would be video games, we’ve seen where it can go well (at least financially) with Disney’s Prince of Persia, and where it can go awry with something like Silent Hill.

We’re holding out for the recently announced Kane & Lynch adaptation, based on the game by Eidos. It was originally announced that stunt coordinator Simon Crane was taking on directorial duties for the film, but that seems to have changed, as the studio is looking to director F. Gary Gray to take over. From Variety:

F. Gary Gray (“Law Abiding Citizen”) is in early talks to direct Lionsgate and Nu Image/Millennium Films’ bigscreen adaptation of the Eidos videogame “Kane and Lynch: Dead Men.”

Bruce Willis has long been attached to play the mercenary Kane in the actioner, and Jamie Foxx came on to play the rage-prone killer Lynch earlier this year. Foxx worked with Gray in “Law Abiding Citizen.”

In the game and film, Kane and Lynch are forced to pair up and have 72 hours to travel the world and recover a doomsday device before Kane’s kidnapped wife and daughter are killed by the criminals who broke them out of prison. The original “Kane & Lynch” game was released in 2007, contained over-the-top violence and strong use of profanity.

To say the least, we should expect the same level of tension and acting from the highly received Law Abiding Citizen, which is only good news for the upcoming adaptation. Outside of Citizen, director F. Gary Gray is best known for (aside from having a pretty awesome name) his work on Be Cool and A Man Apart. The film is currently slated for a 2011 release.