Variety has learned FOX is developing a movie based on George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman book series, and Ridley Scott will produce the film through his Scott Free banner along with Chernin Entertainment.
Sir Harry Paget Flashman first appeared in the 1857 Thomas Hughes novel Tom Brown's School Days, and the first Flashman book was published in 1969. The Flashman character is described as an antihero and a coward who runs away at the first sign of danger, but he somehow manages to become the hero by the end of the books.
Flashman is involved with many of the major military conflicts from the 19th century in the novels like the First Anglo-Afghan War and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and the character claims his only natural talents are horsemanship, foreign languages and whoring. A movie based on the second book in the series Royal Flash was released in 1975 starring Malcolm McDowell as Flashman.
While Flashman sounds like an extremely fun character, he apparently rapes a woman in the first book, however I have a feeling that part won't be in the planned film. Which actors do you think could do a smashing job playing Sir Harry Paget Flashman?
Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN starring Matt Damon opens on November 25, 2015.