Ryan Steck, The Real Book Spy

CBS Films Releases Teaser Trailer For ‘American Assassin’

In case you’ve been living under a rock or off the grid for the past year, CBS Films is turning Vince Flynn’s American Assassin, the first novel (chronologically) in his Mitch Rapp series, into a blockbuster movie starring Dylan O’Brien as Mitch Rapp and Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley.

American Assassin (the movie) comes out on September 15, 2017, and we just got our first look at O’Brien and Keaton in character, thanks to an action-packed teaser trailer that, well, just scroll down and watch it!

Okay, admit it, that was freaking awesome!

There’s no denying that O’Brien, known for his roles in Teen Wolf and The Maze Runner series, has transformed himself into Mitch Rapp, the highly-trained, lethal, CIA counter-terrorism operative who has starred in fifteen novels (thirteen of them written by Flynn before his passing in 2013), with the sixteenth, Enemy of the State, coming out on September 5th.

Rapp is just twenty-three in Flynn’s novel, and a very raw recruit who joins the CIA to kill the terrorists who murdered his long-time girlfriend (though the circumstances are slightly different between the novel and the movie). To develop the necessary skills, he’s trained by Stan Hurley, a Cold War veteran and tough-as-nails spymaster.

And speaking of Hurley, Michael Keaton sort of steals the show during the trailer. His portrayal of Stan is spot-on, and the scene where Mitch (O’Brien) is standing there with his duffel bag as Hurley (Keaton) walks down his stairs towards the new recruit is right in sync with Flynn’s book.

That scene, more than any other so far, has left fans covered in goosebumps and filled with excitement for the full movie to drop this fall.

With a new Rapp novel from Kyle Mills (the last two have been #1 New York Times bestsellers) and what looks to be a hit movie following just ten days later, September is going to be one adrenaline-packed, heart-pounding month for Mitch Rapp fans!

A Note From Lysa Flynn

Wednesday afternoon, Lysa Flynn, Vince’s widow, released her own comments exclusively on VinceFlynn.com.

This week has been such a joy for me and my family. The reaction to the teaser trailer of AMERICAN ASSASSIN has been so nice to see and I couldn’t agree more with the thousands of positive email messages, facebook posts and tweets that I’ve managed to see. I also couldn’t be more impressed by the way CBS Films, Lionsgate, the cast and crew worked tirelessly and respectfully to get us to the exciting point that we have reached.

As Vince always said, when you sell off the rights to your books and characters you have to hope and pray that you’ve chosen the right partners to take on the project because the author loses all control. I truly believe Vince would be quite proud of the decision he made. There will always be differences between movies and the books that their based on—a  few of my friends have asked me specifically about how the book AMERICAN ASSASSIN takes place in the 80’s and 90’s while its clear in the trailer that the movie version takes place in modern times. It was explained to me that that decision was made in order to allow future Mitch Rapp movies to pull from current US enemies and adversaries to give them a ‘ripped from the headline’ feeling. As Kyle Mills, the man who has continued to write the Mitch Rapp books, has pointed out, Vince never had the chance to write about ISIS. They didn’t exist yet. The threats change and the studios wanted to keep the stories current.

But even with all that, I was heartened after spending time on the set and talking to many of the actors, actresses, producers and director Michael Cuesta that they took this very seriously and had Vince on their mind the whole way through.

In London, I spent time with Michael Keaton, who is playing Stan Hurley. We sat for an hour and he mostly asked me all about Vince, taking in as much information as possible. I also had such a sweet moment with Dylan O’Brien, who is our Mitch Rapp. He told me, with hand over heart, how honored he was to be playing Mitch Rapp and how important it was to him to do the role justice. He could not have been more genuine.

When this movie comes out in September, it will be the culmination of all Vince’s dreams. He only wanted these movies to finally be made. And he wanted them in order to introduce a wider audience to Mitch Rapp and to draw more people to his books so more people were able to understand the kind of person who Vince considered a hero and who Vince considered a patriot and to spread the hope and feeling that good always outlasts evil.  I only wish he were here to take the bow he truly deserves.

The comments provide touching insight into Mrs. Flynn’s take on some of the changes from the book, her meeting both Michael Keaton and Dylan O’Brien, and why the movie was so important to Vince. But for diehard fans of this series (myself included), it’s just really awesome to hear from Lysa, so our thanks go out to her for releasing a statement.

Along with posting a link to Mrs. Flynn’s comments, Atria Mystery Bus (who, by the way, is a must-follow for thriller fans who are active on Twitter) released this photo of Lysa with Dylan O’Brien, taken on the London set of American Assassin when it was shooting last year. It’s especially cool to see because Dylan happens to be in full costume, sporting a beat-up look. 

There’s just something special about seeing Lysa Flynn standing next to the character her husband created. Thanks again to Atria Mystery Bus for sharing the link! 

 

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