Kane & Lynch & Willis

When I first heard they were making a movie based on the videogame KANE & LYNCH: DEAD MEN (before it even hit shelves), I sort of expected a moderately budgeted adaptation on the level of HITMAN. After all, it was coming from the same producers (Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter), and the game is exceptionally violent and focuses on characters of an irredeemable nature, meaning limited appeal to movie audiences. So when names like Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton were supposedly being associated with such an abrasive property, I had to chuckle.

If that’s crow you’ve got there, I’ll have a big ol’ serving. It turns out that Willis is actually in negotiations to portray one of the excessively volatile gents of the title in Lionsgate’s flick. The profanity-laced, shootout-filled next-gen game involves a mercenary who teams with a psychopath to take care of some business for a shady cabal in exchange for the safety of his own family. The game has sold 2 million units (which should not imply that it’s fun — it’s loaded with nearly as much frustration as mayhem. But it looks nice).

Willis would play Kane (the more sane member of the duo), while Lynch has yet to be cast… but another reunion between Bruce and Billy Bob wouldn’t be a giant shocker. The movie will mark the directing debut of second-unit and stunt coordinator Simon Crane, who happens to be working with Willis on THE SURROGATES — so there’s your connection.