Stephen King is really popular again since “IT” and at the latest “IT: Chapter 2”. This is especially evident from the constant stream of film adaptations that fans of the bestselling author can look forward to. This also includes a rather unusual novel by King: “Billy SummersIt’s not a horror story, it’s an assassin thriller. An adaptation was original like a series planned, but now there will be a movie – and there is now a prominent name on board. But one after the other.
In February 2022, the American trade magazine announced namely that producer JJ Abrams (“Star Wars 7+9”) had secured the rights to “Billy Summers”, which was released just a few months ago. The writing team Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz would write a six to ten episode series, which Zwick (“Last Samurai”, “Blood Diamond”) would then direct.
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But almost exactly a year later, those plans are a thing of the past, even though the same filmmakers are still on board: Studio Warner has now secured the rights to the template and is working with Abrams and his production company Bad Robot to develop a film adaptation.
Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz are still writing the script, but how writes, JJ Abrams could now take over directing himself, if the project has a promising course. It would be his first film since 2019’s Star Wars 9: The Rise of Skywalker.
In addition, there is now another prominent name on board: Denn Leonardo DiCaprio has also joined the project with his production company Appian Way and could be noisy play the title character of “Billy Summers”., If all goes well. That’s far from certain, but ideally it would be an absolute dream team with lots of Oscar power (Zwick has an Academy Award and a nomination, Herskovitz also a nomination) for the planned adaptation.
The Plot of “Billy Summers”
The focus of “Billy Summers” is the assassin of the same name, who accepts one last job before his well-earned retirement. But, as usual in such cases, the order does not go as planned:
Billy assumes the identity of author David Lockridge and begins writing his memoirs, but after taking out his target, he is betrayed by his employer. Fortunately, Billy has made provisions for just this possibility. While waiting for things to calm down, he meets and cares for young Alice who has been raped by a group of men…