After working with Prime Video and Apple TV+ on the streaming series ZeroZeroZero and Echo 3, Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero has lined up his first studio movie — an adaptation of Olen Steinhauer‘s spy novel The Tourist for 20th Century Studios.
The film will likely draw from Steinhauser’s series of bestselling espionage books about Milo Weaver, an agent within The Tourists, a secret branch of the CIA that specializes in black ops.
Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe are producing the film for 20th Century, which beat out several other suitors for the rights to Steinhauer’s spy series as the studio believes that the property has franchise potential. George Clooney even circled the rights at one point.
Deadline broke the news, writing that The Tourist “fits into Trapero’s wheelhouse,” which I would certainly have to agree with as a big fan of his work on ZeroZeroZero, which boasted some solid action scenes along with actual character development.
Trapero broke out with Mundo Grua, his first feature, which won the Critics Prize at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. A festival darling, his 2015 movie El Clan set a box office record in Argentina for the biggest opening weekend of all time. The film won Trapero the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice International Film Festival.
In addition to directing episodes of Amazon’s impressive crime series ZeroZeroZero, which starred Gabriel Byrne, Andrea Riseborough, and Dane DeHaan, Trapero served as the lead director and executive producer on the Apple TV+ series Echo 3, working closely alongside showrunner Mark Boal. He’s represented by CAA and Entertainment 360.
20th Century may want to consider changing the name of The Tourist if only so audiences don’t confuse it with the Johnny Depp–Angelina Jolie movie or the recent Jamie Dornan series of the same name, but also because it’s a bit generic.
