The Killer (2024 film)

The Killer is an upcoming American action thriller film directed by John Woo. It is a remake of Woo's 1989 film. The film stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Sam Worthington, Diana Silvers, Saïd Taghmaoui and Hugo Diego Garcia.

It is scheduled to be released in the United States by the streaming service Peacock on August 23, 2024.

Cast

 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Zee
 * Omar Sy
 * Sam Worthington
 * Diana Silvers
 * Saïd Taghmaoui
 * Hugo Diego Garcia
 * Aurélia Agel
 * Grégory Montel

Production
In 1992, American filmmaker Walter Hill and David Giler wrote a screenplay for Tri-Star Pictures titled The Killer that was dated 6 April 1992. The press release for this remake stated the script was written for actors Richard Gere and Denzel Washington. In June 1992, it was announced Walter Hill and Giler were writing a script titled Hong Kong based on The Killer with Hill directing. The producers had difficulty with the relationship between the two main characters in the script as they felt that American audiences would interpret it as a homoerotic one. Producer Terence Chang, who worked with Woo on several productions, suggested to the American producers to have Hong Kong actress Michelle Yeoh play the role of the police officer to resolve any homoerotic reading of the film. A year later, screenwriters Jim Cash and Jack Epps, Jr. were hired by producers Charles Roven and Robert Cavallo to write a screenplay based on The Killer for Tristar, writing a third draft of the script dated on 23 August 1993 which featured a story of a Caucasian hitman living in Hong Kong. This screenplay moved the focus from the pairing of the hitman and the police detective characters to the characters of a blinded nightclub singer and the hitman.

In October 2007, The Hollywood Reporter announced that a remake of The Killer was announced with Korean-American director John H. Lee directing. The remake would take place in Los Angeles's Koreatown, Chinatown, and South Central. Lee named The Killer as one of his favorite films and said he was excited to make his own version of the film. Lee's version was set to be produced by Woo, and star Jung Woo-sung and shot in 3D. Seven Stars Film Studios was slated to finance the production with a screenplay by Josh Campbell. Sarah Li was initially cast to play the role of the blind singer. Woo spoke about the remake in October 2015, stating that Lee's film was in development for some time and Lee eventually took on other projects. Woo commented in 2015 that he would return to Hollywood after filming Manhunt (2017) in order to make an American adaptation of The Killer. Universal Pictures was announced to be developing the film with a script written by Eran Creevy based on drafts by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken, with additional contributions by Brian Helgeland. Actress Lupita Nyong'o had been cast for the lead role. Woo said that filming would begin in January 2019. About the decision to flip both the gender and race of the lead, Nyong'o remarked that she "did not see it coming, either", stating that she had received, read and liked the script without having seen the original movie. However, Woo told Deadline in November 2019 that Nyong'o had left the film due to scheduling conflicts as a result of a script rewrite. In May 2022, it was announced that the film would be directed by Woo, produced by Universal, and released exclusively on Peacock. In August 2022, Universal announced that Omar Sy would lead the film as the cop character. In March 2023, Nathalie Emmanuel was cast in the lead role. Woo returned to work on The Killer following a multi-month hiatus on shooting the film in Paris due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

Release
The film will begin streaming on Peacock on August 23, 2024.