The late Paul Walker was originally attached to star in Agent 47, but following his tragic death last year, 20th Century Fox decided to recast the titular role and chose Homeland’s Rupert Friend.
Agent 47 is a reboot of Hitman (which starred Justified’s Timothy Olyphant as the lead character and grossed over $100 million worldwide back in 2007). The movie is based on the hit video game franchise from Square Enix, and this take on the bald assassin was shot in a number of locations including Berlin and Singapore.
Friend’s other big screen credits include Pride and Prejudice and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, so this will see him take on his first role in a big budget blockbuster. Of course, he’s no stranger to action thanks to his role in the Showtime drama and should have little trouble convincingly portraying the tough as nails anti-hero who’s best known for his ruthless killing methods and the barcode tattoo on the back of his head.
Commercials director Aleksander Bach will still make his feature helming debut with the project from a screenplay written by A Good Day To Die Hard’s Skip Woods and Mike Finch as well as Machete Kills’ Kyle Ward.
Also in the movie are Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware (pictured below) and Thomas Kretschmann.
It’s worth noting that the movie is referred to here as Hitman: Agent 47, so that seems to be the new official title. The movie is set to be released on February 27th, 2015.
