Variety is reporting that Brian Helgeland (42, L.A. Confidential) will direct the Button Man adaptation for Netflix, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Arthur Ranson.
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Button Man tells the story of ex-military contractor Harry Exton, considered the first true hero of the post-truth age. Exton’s is a proxy in a clandestine competition among the super-rich. Paid to fight to the death in modern-day gladiatorial contests, Exton sets out on a relentless journey to use these twisted elites’ own dark machine to bring their corrupt world crashing down.
Helgeland is an Oscar-winning writer who took home Best Screenplay for 1997’s L.A. Confidential and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2004 for Clint Eastwood’s award-winning adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River. The scribe’s directing credits include Payback, A Knight’s Tale, The Order, 42, and Legend. The writer and director is currently in pre-production on Finest Kind, a crime thriller starring Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Ansel Elgort.
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Button Man casting will begin for the role of Exton. No production start date has yet been set. Matt Reeves and Adam Kassan will produce for 6th & Idaho. RingTheJing Entertainment’s Roger Kass and Addictive Pictures’ John Schoenfelder and Russell Ackerman will also produce. Executive producers include 6th & Idaho’s Rafi Crohn, John Wagner, and Arthur Ranson. Will Janowitz will co-produce.
