MICHAEL KEATON TO PLAY STAN HURLEY IN AMERICAN ASSASSIN

CBS Films and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) announced that Academy Award®-nominee Michael Keaton (Birdman, Spotlight) will star in the adaptation of Vince Flynn’s massive bestseller AMERICAN ASSASSIN.  Acclaimed filmmaker Michael Cuesta (Kill The Messenger, Homeland, L.I.E.) will direct the thriller from a screenplay by Stephen Schiff (The Americans, Ultimate Rush).  Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, Deepwater Horizon, Red) and Nick Wechsler (The Road, Magic Mike) are producing the film.

Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Keaton) would be the most feared training officer in the CIA if more than a handful of people at the agency knew that he existed.  As AMERICAN ASSASSIN begins, Deputy Director Irene Kennedy tasks Hurley with training Mitch Rapp, a black ops recruit devastated by the loss of his fiancée to a terrorist attack.  As Rapp’s training progresses, the pair is dispatched on a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent to stop a mysterious operative from starting World War III in the Middle East.
   
Published by Atria Books and in mass market paperback by Pocket Books, both imprints of Simon & Schuster, AMERICAN ASSASSIN is one of fourteen novels set in the world of counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp.  Every single one has been a New York Times bestseller, the three most recent entries have been number one New York Times bestsellers and the series has sold nearly twenty million copies to date.

“Stan Hurley is one of the pillars of the Vince Flynn universe and a favorite character for millions of readers, so casting him was a daunting challenge,” said Cuesta, who continued. “To have an actor as intelligent and gifted as Michael Keaton bring this beloved character to life is a thrill for everyone involved in AMERICAN ASSASSIN and a cause for celebration amongst ‘Hurley’ fans the world over.”

AMERICAN ASSASSIN will be the latest release in the partnership between CBS Films and Lionsgate. The film will be co-financed by the two companies with CBS Films handling production and marketing and Lionsgate handling distribution.
 
Michael Keaton is represented by ICM Partners, Anonymous Content and Wendy Kirk at Ziffren Brittenham LLP.  The film will begin production this Summer.  Like CBS Films, Simon & Schuster is a division of CBS Corporation. 

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ABOUT CBS FILMS
CBS Films is a division of CBS Corporation. The division develops, finances, acquires, produces and releases theatrical feature films spanning all genres.  For more information, log on to www.cbsfilms.com.

ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, video games and international distribution and sales. The Company has nearly 80 television shows on 40 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses.  These include the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black, the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, the hit broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication successes The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game (with FremantleMedia), the breakout series The Royals and the Golden Globe-nominated dramedy Casual.

Its feature film business has been fueled by such successes as the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, Sicario, The Age of Adaline, CBS/Lionsgate's The DUFF, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions' Love & Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.

Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.For more information, log on to www.lionsgate.com.

AMERICAN ASSASSIN MOVIE: CBS FILS ANNOUNCES WRITER AND DIRECTOR

CBS Films, which owns the movie rights to Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series, announced today that Michael Cuesta, who has directed and produced television series including Six Feet Under, Dexter, Blue Bloods and Homeland, will direct the film adaptation of American Assassin.  Stephen Schiff, who has served as a writer and producer on the acclaimed FX television series The Americans, and whose screenplays include Lolita, True Crime, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, will develop the screenplay. 

The film will begin shooting later this year.

Updates on casting will be sent as soon as they are available.

A NOTE FROM KYLE MILLS

Before I start the introductions, I want to thank Vince’s readers, friends, and relatives for all the wonderful emails.  I was prepared for some uncertainty from diehard fans but all I’ve received are well-wishes and enthusiasm.  I really appreciate people taking the time to make me feel like one of the family.

So, a bit about me…

My career has had a lot of strange parallels to Vince’s.  We both published our first books in 1997 and both were lucky enough to get positive reactions from thriller fans.  We’re both fascinated with the dark side of politics and both well connected to the intelligence community.  Vince was even nice enough to give me a terrific quote for the jacket of one of my books. 

Even Mitch and I share a little history.  If you recall, he joined the CIA in reaction to the love of his life dying in Pan Am 103.  My father was the FBI’s lead man in the investigation of that terrorist attack. In fact, it happened during my college graduation dinner in London where he was stationed at the time.  His assistant came to the restaurant and told him that a plane had gone down in a small Scottish town.  That was the last I saw of him for months.

I regret having only met Vince briefly.  Many years ago, Brad Thor tried to put together a weekend at his place in Utah for the three of us and Brad Meltzer but at the time everyone was having kids and struggling with workload. It’s so easy when you’re young to believe you have all the time in the world.

I’ve published twelve thrillers over my career, spanning a wide variety of subject matters and styles. They started with an FBI agent character who appeared in five novels and then branched out into everything from military-oriented plots, to threats revolving around cutting-edge science, to corporate intrigue. 

My goal with The Survivor is to stick very closely to Vince’s style and to try to capture Mitch exactly as he did.  I’m lucky that The Last Man included a lot of clues as to where Mitch’s story would go next.  The hope is to create a book that even lifelong fans will have a hard time differentiating from the rest of the series. Not an easy task, but I’m working hard to get as close as I can.

Right now I’m in the middle of a website update that will add a page dedicated to Vince’s readers but, in the meantime, I’ve had a lot of people ask me which of my books are the most Flynn-like. If you’re interested in getting a feel for my style, I’d suggest picking up The Ares Decision or Fade.  

Finally, I always love to hear from readers, so if you want to get in touch, go to the contact page at kylemills.com and shoot me an email. Feel free to ask me questions too, either through my website or this website and I’ll post some of the answers in future editions of this newsletter.

Once again, thanks for all the encouragement.

Kyle

VINCE FLYNN'S MITCH RAPP SERIES WILL CONTINUE; THE SURVIVOR TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR 2015

The Vince Flynn Estate, along with Emily Bestler, Senior VP and Editor-in-Chief of Emily Bestler Books are excited to announce the decision to continue the Mitch Rapp series.
 
Bestler, who was Vince Flynn's only editor throughout his entire career and whose imprint is a division of Simon & Schuster's Atria Books, signed a three book deal with 47-year-old New York Times bestselling author Kyle Mills.
 
Mills was first published in 1997 and has penned 13 thrillers, most notably Fade and The Ares Decision.
 
Mills will complete The Survivor, the book Flynn was writing at the time of his death on June 19, 2013, and then write two additional Mitch Rapp novels. The Survivor is tentatively scheduled to release in the fall of 2015.
 
"I'm really honored to have been asked to continue the Mitch Rapp series," Mills said, "Vince was a great guy who helped me out in my career and as a diehard Rapp fan, I know how devastated his readers are.  They're big shoes to fill, but I'm looking forward to the challenge of continuing an iconic thriller character."
 
"Vince and Mitch Rapp are so beloved by readers," Bestler said, "It's wonderful that we've found just the right partner to uphold the legacy of both."
 
"To Vince's wonderful fans, thank you for your love, support and patience, " Vince's widow, Lysa Flynn said, " Vince was very proud of his team and we are confident that Kyle Mills will be a great addition. God bless and keep the faith!"
 
Pocket Books will be the paperback publisher of all three books, which will also be available from Simon & Schuster Audio and from Simon & Schuster UK in the UK, Australia, India and New Zealand.   

STATEMENT ON VINCE FLYNN'S, THE SURVIVIOR

Dear Readers,
 
First, let me thank you on behalf of everyone here at Simon & Schuster for all of your wonderful, heart-felt and heartwarming notes of condolence concerning Vince’s death last month. They will all be shared with his family and I know they will be touched. 

I also want to keep you fully informed about the status of Vince’s unpublished work as he would most certainly want you to have this information.

The Survivor, Vince Flynn’s planned release this fall, is being postponed indefinitely. Vince had not yet completed the manuscript at the time of his passing last month. The reason it is “postponed indefinitely” as opposed to “canceled” is because it is too soon to know how much of the book was written or if Vince had plans or provisions in place in the event that he could not complete the book. As for Vince’s collaboration with Brian Haig, while it is still available for preorder, for the same reasons above, we ask for your patience concerning its publication.

We will absolutely keep you updated and again, many, many thanks for standing by Vince not only through the best parts of his life but through the hardest.
Best,

Emily Bestler
Senior Vice President, Editor-In-Chief
Emily Bestler Books, an imprint of
Atria Books at Simon & Schuster

VINCE FLYNN, INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR, DIES AT 47

NEW YORK, JUNE 19, 2013-Vince Flynn, the bestselling author of the Mitch Rapp thriller series died early this morning after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 47. 

The fifth of seven children, Vince Flynn was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 6, 1966. He graduated from the Saint Thomas Academy in 1984, and the University of St. Thomas with a degree in economics in 1988.

After college he went to work for Kraft General Foods where he was an account and sales marketing specialist.

In 1990 Vince Flynn left Kraft to accept an aviation candidate slot with the United States Marine Corps. However, one week before leaving for Officers Candidate School, he was medically disqualified from the Marine Aviation Program, due to several concussions and convulsive seizures he suffered as a child following a car accident.  While trying to obtain a medical waiver for his condition, he started thinking about writing a book, an unusual choice for Flynn since he had been diagnosed with dyslexia in grade school and had struggled with reading and writing all his life.

Having been turned down by the Marine Corps, Flynn returned to the work force and took a job with United Properties, a commercial real estate company in the Twin Cities. During his spare time he worked on an idea he had for a book. After two years with United Properties he decided to devote himself full time to writing: he quit his job, moved to Colorado, and began working full time on what would eventually become his first novel, Term Limits.

While writing Term Limits, Flynn supported himself by bartending at night. After five years and more than sixty rejection letters, he decided to self-publish, which was not as common at that time as it is today.   Term Limits went to number one in the Twin Cities area, and within a week Flynn had an agent and garnered a two-book deal with Emily Bestler of Pocket Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint.

First Published by Pocket Books in 1997, Term Limits was a New York Times bestseller in paperback. Since then, his books became perennial bestsellers in hardcover, paperback, and electronic editions, and since the publication of Protect and Defend in 2007, have regularly been #1 New York Times bestsellers.  Flynn’s novels have been praised for their extensive research and prescient warnings about the rise of Islamic Radical Fundamentalism and terrorism. His books have been read by current and former presidents, foreign heads of state, and intelligence professionals around the world, and are admired for their verisimilitude and imagination: one high-ranking CIA official told his staff, “I want you to read Flynn's books and start thinking about how we can more effectively wage this war on terror.”

Works by Flynn include American Assassin, Kill Shot, Transfer of Power, The Third Option, Separation of Power, Executive Power, Memorial Day, Consent to Kill, Act of Treason, Extreme Measures, Pursuit of Honor, The Last Man and Term Limits (not part of the Mitch Rapp series).  Motion picture rights to Flynn’s character Mitch Rapp have been optioned by CBS Films with the intention of making a character-based, action-thriller movie franchise. 

“It has been our distinct honor to publish Vince Flynn for the entire length of his career,” said Carolyn Reidy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster, Inc.  “As good as Vince was on the page - and he gave millions of readers countless hours of pleasure - he was even more engaging in person.   He had a truly unique ability to make everyone - from those of us at Simon & Schuster who were fortunate to be part of his publication, to booksellers and retailers around the nation, and most of all, his readers, with whom he had a very close relationship - feel as if we were on his team and sharing in his life and his success. Yes, we will miss the Mitch Rapp stories that are classic modern thrillers, but we will miss Vince even more.” 

Vince Flynn is survived by his wife Lysa Flynn, and three children.

Bibliography
Term Limits (1997) 
Transfer of Power (1999)
The Third Option (2000) 
Separation of Power (2001)
Executive Power (2003)
Memorial Day (2004) 
Consent to Kill (2005) 
Act of Treason (2006) 
Protect and Defend (2007) 
Extreme Measures (2008) 
Pursuit of Honor (2009) 
American Assassin (2010) 
Kill Shot (2012) 
The Last Man (2012)