Director Shane Black at the premiere of ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
Preview:
Shane Black will co-write and may direct ‘The Executioner’ for Sony.
It would be based on Don Pendleton’s novels.
Joel Silver is aboard to produce.
Known for bringing tough guys to the screen in entertaining fashion, Shane Black has found one more to focus on –– The Hollywood Reporter brings word that he’s aboard to co-write a movie based on the pulpy action thriller books originated by writer Don Pendleton under the blanket title ‘The Executioner.’
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With producer Joel Silver –– who has a long connection to Black and has his own history trying to adapt the book –– also involved, the new movie is coming together because Sony managed to snag the rights.
Director Shane Black at the premiere of ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
The book series that told the muscular and bullet-filled adventures of Mack Bolan, a sniper turned one man army fighting against the Mafia, the KGB, terrorists and cyber-criminals, or whoever were the bad guys of his latest book’s era.
Initially the books were written by Pendleton but later ghost writers were hired as he licensed out the books, which at their height were being churned out upwards of two a month and in the end numbered 464 books. The series ran from 1969 to 2020 (Pendleton died in 1995), selling hundreds of millions copies worldwide, spawned spin-off book lines, a magazine and comics.
Who else has tried to adapt ‘The Executioner’ series?
Bradley Cooper attends Netflix’s ‘Maestro’ LA special screening at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on December 12, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
In honor of the new release, Moviefone is counting down every film Shane Black has either written or directed.
NOTE: For this list we are only including films where Black has a writing or directing credit, and not films where he only has a Story By credit or an acting credit.
When a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) accidentally triggers the universe’s most lethal hunters’ return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled scientist (Olivia Munn) can prevent the end of the human race.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘Last Action Hero’. Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment.
After his father’s death, a young boy (Austin O’Brien) finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Given a magic ticket by a theater manager, he is transported into the film and teams up with the cop to stop a villain who escapes into the real world.
Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr) adjourns to Earth, accompanied by Frankenstein’s Monster (Tom Noonan), the Wolfman (Carl Thibault), the Mummy (Michael Reid MacKay), and the Gillman (Tom Woodruff Jr.). The uglies are in search of a powerful amulet that will grant them power to rule the world. Our heroes – the Monster Squad are the only ones daring to stand in their way.
(L to R) Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield in ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
Expert thief Parker (Mark Wahlberg) gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world’s richest man.
(L to R) Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson in ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a small-town schoolteacher and mom with no memory of her life before washing up on a beach eight years ago. After a car accident and a violent home invasion trigger flashes of her past, she discovers she used to be a deadly CIA assassin. Teaming up with a wisecracking private investigator (Samuel L. Jackson), Samantha must return to her old ways to take down the people who tried to erase her.
Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Iron Man 3’. Photo: Marvel Studios.
When Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.
(L to R) Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in ‘The Nice Guys’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
A private eye (Ryan Gosling) and an enforcer (Russell Crowe) investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star (Margaret Qualley) in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.
(L to R) Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in ‘Lethal Weapon’. Photo: Warner Bros.
A veteran cop (Danny Glover) and an unstable detective (Mel Gibson) become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.
(L to R) Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans in ‘The Last Boy Scout’. Photo: Warner Bros.
When the girl (Halle Berry) that detective Joe Hallenback (Bruce Willis) is protecting gets murdered, the boyfriend (Damon Wayans) of the murdered girl attempts to investigate and solve the case. What they discover is that there is deep seated corruption going on between a crooked politician and the owner of a pro football team.
(L to R) Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
A petty thief posing as an actor (Robert Downey Jr.) is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl (Michelle Monaghan) and a detective (Val Kilmer) who’s been training him for his upcoming role.
Once the king of the 1980s and 1990s action-comedy script sale, since turning his hand to directing, Shane Black has had a somewhat more mixed career. There have been definite highs (‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ and ‘Iron Man 3’) and true lows (his most recent directorial effort was the ill-fated ‘The Predator’ back in 2018). And even when he’s hit the mark, the box office results have not been kind (‘The Nice Guys’ really deserved better).
With ‘Play Dirty’, he’s got some choice (if frequently adapted) source material in Donald E. Westlake’s Parker character, and while he manages to pull off a convincing, double-triple-quadruple-crossing crime caper, there’s a big problem sitting squarely at the top of the cast list.
Script and Direction
Director Shane Black at the premiere of ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
Black, working here with Charles Mondry (2024’s ‘Road House’) and Anthony Bagarozzi (who co-wrote ‘The Nice Guys’ with the director), has cooked up a twisty heist thriller that draws from Westlake’s novels but isn’t a direct adaptation of any of them.
It’s certainly chock full of action, though the pacing suffers some when the filmmaker takes his foot off the gas (or the train pedal) to dig down into exposition, but that is largely carried by some great actors spouting swear-laden dialogue at each other. Oh, and no points for guessing that the movie is set during Black’s trademark Christmas season.
The elephant in the room in ‘Play Dirty’s case is Mark Wahlberg, who brings about as much charisma to the lead role as some wet, peeling wallpaper. It’s even harder to stomach when you know that Black’s old pal Robert Downey Jr. was originally attached to star.
Still, the rest of the cast essentially act Wahlberg off the screen, with particular plaudits due the likes of Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, LaKeith Stanfield and Tony Shalhoub, the latter getting to show off his gangster side with aplomb.
While nowhere near a classic Shane Black offering (come on Prime Video, just buy the rights and let him reunite Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe for ‘The Nice Guys 2’!), it’s diverting enough, even if the lead character is something of a joyless chore rather than the sharp criminal of the books.
An expert thief rolls out the biggest heist of his life as Parker (Mark Wahlberg), along with Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), Zen (Rosa Salazar) and a skilled crew, stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob.
Who is in the cast of ‘Play Dirty’?
Mark Wahlberg as Parker
LaKeith Stanfield as Grofield
Rosa Salazar as Zen
Tony Shalhoub as Lozini
Keegan-Michael Key as Ed Mackey
Nat Wolff as Kincaid Chukwudi Iwuji as Phineas Paul Thomas Jane as Philly Webb
Director Shane Black at the premiere of ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
Working with ‘Kiss Kiss’ producer Joel Silver, the pair is first looking to make ‘Play Dirty’, which will see Downey Jr. playing Parker. He’s a professional thief who approaches his job with a straightforward, no-nonsense work ethic. He’s a craftsman. He’s brutal, brilliant. He’s also deadly. He’s whatever it takes to get the money and get away clean.
The Parker character was first introduced in 1962’s ‘The Hunter’ from Pocket Books (with Westlake writing under the pseudonym of Richard Stark) and featured in 23 other titles from the author, become a popular, hardboiled staple.
Yet the prospect of Black and Downey Jr. getting back together to make this new movie is even more exciting. Black wrote the script with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi, the latter of whom he previously worked with on ‘The Nice Guys’.
Amazon has naturally been quick to snap up the prospect of more than one film and some TV spin-offs from the duo, though Deadline’s report doesn’t specify how much this deal covers.
Let’s not forget that Black is partly responsible for Downey’s presence as the lynchpin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Years before they collaborated to winning effect on ‘Iron Man 3’, Black taking a chance on a then-career-troubled Downey for ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ is one of the reasons that Jon Favreau and the Marvel team thought of him for Tony Stark.
Plus, this puts them squarely back in the crime caper/thriller territory that ‘Kiss Kiss’ explored so well. As for Silver, he’s worked with Downey Jr. on several movies, including ‘Gothika’ the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ outings and, stretching back to the 1980s, cult classic comedy ‘Weird Science’. His collaboration connection with Black is just as deep, if not more so, for movies such as the ‘Lethal Weapon’ series and ‘The Last Boy Scout.’ In addition to ‘Kiss Kiss’, he also produced ‘The Nice Guys’.
Downey Jr. is typically busy right now – he’s got a role (along with, it seems half of Hollywood) in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ and is co-starring for director Park Chan-wook in ‘The Sympathizer,’ which will see him playing multiple parts. Plus, assuming it actually happens, there’s a third ‘Sherlock Holmes’ somewhere on the horizon.
After critical and commercial misses such as ‘Doolittle’, it’s reassuring to see Downey Jr. back with two of his best collaborators. No word yet on when ‘Play Dirty’ may steal into theaters.
