*After a few years in development, which saw Justin Lin, Dwayne Johnson, and Paul W.S. Anderson attached at various points, a big screen take on the Spy Hunter video game moved forward when Ruben Fleischer (Gangster Squad) entered talks to direct the film. Now Deadline reports he is officially on board to helm, based on a script by Carter Blanchard. The film will be based on the 1980s Midway racing/espionage game, but Fleischer has previously expressed a desire of turning it into a James Bond-style franchise.
* Scott Frank's A Walk Among the Tombstones is developing fast, with Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens recently joining Liam Neeson in the upcoming thriller. Now you can add fast-rising star Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina) to the cast, taking the unspecified female lead. Based on the Matthew Scudder trilogy of novels by Lawrence Block, it follows an ex-cop turned alcoholic private investigator who is hired to find the kidnapped wife of a drug dealer. Wilson has a busy year ahead, as she'll appear in Disney's The Lone Ranger and Saving Mr. Banks. [Variety]
* After scoring one of the biggest hits of his career with the cop-drama, End of Watch, David Ayer is moving in a totally different direction by taking on a WWII tank movie. Ayer has sold for a whopping $1M sum a spec script for Fury, an action flick taking place in 1945 and following the American crew of the titular tank as they battle a desperate German army. Ayer is set to direct, as well, with production to begin this fall. QED International paid the hefty price tag for the project, and will produce it the same way they backed Ayer's upcoming cop-thriller, Ten. [Deadline]
