Greg Rucka’s Eisner Award winning Queen and Country comic series was optioned for a movie by Fox Studios so long ago there aren’t any good articles on the Web to confirm exactly when. It has languished in development hell since at least May 2007, where Rucka discusses it with IGN. However, according to new reports by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, Fox has now revived the project and has Ellen Page in negotiations to star as Tara Chace.
Page, who already has her geek credit cemented by starring in both Juno and a turn in X-Men: The Last Stand (and the upcoming Days of Future Past) as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat, is already in negotiations for the title role of Tara Chace, the British operative of the Special Operations Section of SIS who negotiates bureaucracy and politics in Her Majesty’s service for a 32 issue run between 2001 and 2007.
According to both reports, Fox and Fox Searchlight sources say they hope to build a franchise for Page, a la Jason Bourne, with the Queen and Country role.
Peter Chernin, of Chernin Entertainment is attached to produce, along with Jenno Topping. John Rogers (Transformers, Catwoman) is listed by Variety as script writer, but Hollywood Reporter says the current script is by Ryan Condal (The Sixth Gun TV movie, and the Rock’s Hercules: The Thracian Wars).
In addition to the four volumes of the graphic novel, there have also been two novels, A Gentleman’s Game and Private Wars (see "Bantam to Publish A 'Queen & Country' Novel"), as well as a Scriptbook.
Ellen Page in Negotiations
Posted by ICv2 on September 9, 2013 @ 4:20 pm CT