In an era when TV shows are mining feature films for content with series like Lethal Weapon and Frequency, a book series best known as a popular ’60s TV show is headed back to the big screen.
Paramount tells Deadline that they’re working on a reboot of The Saint, last seen on the big screen when onetime Batman Val Kilmer made a film version in 1997.
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Prior to that, there had been a number of films starring George Sanders in the 1930s and ’40s, based on the novels by Leslie Charteris. The TV iteration, which ran from 1962 until 1969, brought a pre-James Bond Roger Moore to the world of espionage.
The books (and films and TV series) center on Simon Templar, who steals from corrupt politicians, criminals, and warmongers, always leaving behind a calling card of a stick figure with a halo.
The idea, it seems, is to turn The Saint into an action franchise, which the original report says could be retooled to be informed by current fears about terrorism, state surveillance, data security, and the like. Whether they would try to adapt specific books with an updated bent or just interpret the characters into original stories is not yet clear.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Brad Krevoy and Robert Evans will produce for Paramount. di Bonaventura produced G. I. Joe, Transformers, Red, and Jack Ryan. Evans has worked with Paramount for decades, producing films like Rosemary’s Baby, The Marathon Man, and the Val Kilmer version of The Saint. His autobiography, The Kid Stays in the Picture, was itself adapted into a successful film.
