Chris Pratt Is Teaming With John Wick Directors For This Crazy Project
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In one year, Chris Pratt has gone from a lovably goofy supporting player on a TV series to being one of the more bankable actors on the planet. So it’s no surprise that any project he lines up is going to attract some interesting names. Case in point: Universal Pictures’ upcoming feature adaptation of the wild as hell comic series Cowboy Ninja Viking is looking to John Wick directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski to bring their action know-how to the Pratt-led flick. This choice couldn’t be more Super Awesome Excellent.
Things aren’t really set in stone for anyone on Cowboy Ninja Viking just yet (except for screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese), as the directing duo are only in very early talks right now. Pratt, who has a seriously heavy load coming as far as film commitments go, wanted to wait until the film brought in the right creative mind to lead this flick. Luckily, Variety reports their sources say Pratt has met with both Leitch and Stahelski and that his happiness with them has gotten Universal to send them an offer.
Cowboy Ninja Viking, written by A.J. Lieberman and illustrated by Riley Rossmo, centers on the titular multi-talented “triplet,” who was transformed by a psychotherapist as part of a squad of multiple personality disorder-suffering agents. He’s far from alone, though, and after their unit falls apart and several triplets splinter off to become highly dangerous killers, it’s up to Duncan, the Cowboy Ninja Viking, to seek them out and stop their heinous ways. The characters in this movie will be amazing on the big screen. Take a look at one mini-action moment form the comic for an idea of where this could go.
Should they take the job, this will be the second feature for Stahelski and Leitch, the latter of whom was uncredited as director on John Wick. The duo spent many years in Hollywood as stuntmen in some of the biggest movies of the past two decades, and then rose up in the business as second unit directors on movies like the first two Hunger Games and The Expendables 2. Everyone was blown away by how well John Wick did at the box office, and the film instantly dropped Keanu Reeves back into “not so bad of an actor” conversation again. Check out the trailer below.
Pratt has The Magnificent Seven and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 heading into production over the next year, so here’s hoping all the loose ends for Cowboy Ninja Viking are tied up immediately so that casting and filming can begin. This project is too good to keep sitting on a shelf.
