Oscar-nominated writer Sheldon Turner joins the production team for the big screen adaptation of Ubisoft's video game "Splinter Cell", Cinema Blend has learned. Turner is famously known as the screenwriter for 2011's "X-Men: First Class" and "Up in the Air" from 2009.
The screenwriter's involvement in the upcoming action-thriller serves as a reunion with director Doug Liman and lead actor, Tom Hardy. The three were initially working on a film called "Everest", which centers on the attempt of English mountaineer George Mallory to become the first person to conquer the highest mountain on Earth during the early 1920s.
However, production of the film got postponed after another movie project bearing the same title made the announcement for its release first. The other film, which stars Jake Gyllenhall, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke and Sam Worthington, is a true-to-life take on the disastrous 1996 Mount Everest expedition that led to the death of several climbers, Deadline reported.
With the production of "Everest" hanging in the air, Liman and Hardy decided to move on and focus on the highly anticipated film version of "Splinter Cell" with Turner. The draft of the film was first penned by "American Hustle" screenwriter Eric Warren Singer.
Filming of "Splinter Cell" will begin in August of this year. Hardy will play the game's protagonist Sam Fisher, an operative for the Third Echelon, a covert branch of the NSA. In the game, Fisher relies on stealth and various types of high-tech equipment provided by his team to take down enemies and complete his missions.
Cinema Blend speculated that "Splinter Cell" might hit theaters in 2016 to make way for another film based on the Ubisoft game, "Assassin's Creed". Michael Fassbender will produce and star in the upcoming movie which is scheduled for release on August 7 of next year.