{TB EXCLUSIVE} Doug Liman Out, Joseph Kahn Targeted To Direct Tom Hardy In “Splinter Cell”

 EXCLUSIVE
 〉The Power/Rangers director is the top choice to bring the Ubisoft game adaptation to life.

Doug Liman has dropped out of New Regency’s big budget adaptation of the hit Ubisoft video game SPLINTER CELL. Jean-Julien Baronet of Ubisoft Motion Pictures and Basil Iwanyk are still signed on to produce, along with Liman’s producing partner David Bartis. The film is set to star Tom Hardy, who will also lead next month’s Mad Max: Fury Road.

With Liman off, the producers are looking instead at Joseph Kahn. In the past, Kahn has made such features as Detention and Torque, but he is primarily known for his music video and commercial work. He has directed videos for a number of artists, from U2 to Britney Spears to Eminem. Most recently, he directed the popular video for Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space.”

Kahn has been in the press lately for his dark parody Power/Rangers. The short envisions the classic 90s heroes as much darker and more adult versions of their original selves. It was briefly taken off YouTube and Vimeo when franchise owners Saban Entertainment complained. However, fan complaints worldwide caused the video to be brought back online.

The award-winning, Tom Clancy-created Splinter Cell franchise follows special ops agent Sam Fisher. As an employee of the secret government organization Third Echelon, Fisher will use whatever means necessary to infiltrate international terrorist syndicates.

Kahn is repped by Paradigm.

—TO SEE ALL THE PROJECT DETAILS CLICK HERE—

Parker Mills  | Film Journalist