Gerard Butler to Topline White House Action Film OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

If you’re a fan of the high concept action films of yesteryear (ie. the 1990s) like Con Air and Air Force One, this story may be of particular interest to you. Variety reports that Gerard Butler has signed on to star in the actioner Olympus Has Fallen. The story is described as Die Hard in the White House and centers on a “down-on-his-luck ex-Secret Service agent who becomes America’s only hope when 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is taken over by terrorists.” Despite the absurdity of the premise, I think this sounds like a sufficiently fun action pic. In a sea of gritty/realistic/gimmicky action movies, an over-the-top story fronted by a hardened lead is actually kind of refreshing.

The script was written by first-timers Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, but no director has signed on just yet. Hopefully they get someone who doesn’t take the film too seriously, and decides to have some fun with it. Butler will be seen later this year in the surfer film Of Men and Mavericks and the romantic comedy Playing the Field. He recently replaced Eric Bana in the diamond heist pic Brilliant, which begins shooting this spring.

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HUMAN TARGET Writers to Adapt Y: THE LAST MAN; Scott F. Butler to Script HOLD TIGHT

An adaptation of Y: The Last Man has been in development pretty much since it’s release in 2002, and has proven unadaptable for just as long.  Last we checked in on the project, Louis Leterrier expressed his dream to turn the 60-issue comic into a TV series.  But Heat Vision reports that New Line has hired Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia (Human Target) to start from scratch on a Y: The Last Man feature.  The Brian K. Vaughan comic centers on Yorick, an escape artist who is the sole male survivor of an unknown plague that wiped out every man on Earth.  It’s a sprawling tale in which Yorick wanders across the country, where a new adventure awaits at every location.  The report says nothing about the possibility of multiple films, so presumably Federman and Scaia are faced with the daunting task of streamlining the entire adventure into a two-hour arc.  Vaughan actually drafted a Y: The Last Man screenplay himself that leaked to a positive reception.  So it can be done.  I do wish Federman and Scaia the best of luck, since I’d like to see Y on the big screen.  But if they fail like so many others, let’s try it on TV.  C’mon, HBO.

Hit the jump for details on Inferno Entertainment’s option on Hold Tight.

Variety reports that Inferno has hired Scott F. Butler to adapt Harlan Coben‘s novel Hold Tight.  Here’s the synopsis:

Mike and Tia Baye decide to spy on their son Adam, who has become moody and withdrawn since his friend’s suicide. The software they install on his computer exposes every website visited, every e-mail and instant message sent or received. But each keystroke draws them deeper into a maze of mayhem and violence that could destroy them all.

Another Coben novel, Tell No One, served as the basis for a multiple César winner led by Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas.  Ben Affleck is attached to direct the Hollywood remake.

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