Comedian Kevin James and actress Zulay Henao (The Single Mom’s Club) will follow Adam Sandler and others into the Netflix film mafia. The duo are set to co-star in an upcoming Netflix original film called True Memoirs of an International Assassin, with casting of Henao recently announced as the female lead, according to Variety.
In the new movie, James plays an accountant who publishes a fictional novel from the perspective of a modern day assassin, then finds himself mistaken for the real thing when the book is accidentally published as nonfiction. His character then flees his boring office in the United States and heads to Belize, where he meets Henao, who plays a DEA agent that blows her cover to save James from a drug lord — and high jinks abound, no doubt.
Andy Garcia is signed on to play the drug lord character from modern day Venezuela who writers say was molded in the image of Che Guevara.
A comedic adventure flick much in the same style as the critically-panned Paul Blart: Mall Cop franchise, the new film will hopefully raise the bar from James’ recent repertoire, which includes another box office disappointment in the Adam Sandler film Pixels.
Wishful thinking aside, we’re not likely to see this release praised any more than James’ latest work, with a script coming from Jeff Morris — whose biggest project to date was 2014’s Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever — and producers who were largely involved in the Paul Blart films. But the studio did get a solid director to helm the project in Jeff Wadlow, a Pearl Harbor actor who has spent the last 14 years in a behind-the-lens role, and recently shot superhero flick Kick Ass 2.
Netflix purchased the distribution rights to the project at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and the company intends to make it into a straight-to-internet release. Shooting for True Memoirs of an International Assassin started in the Dominican Republic this November.
Given the recent casting of Henao, and the fact that production only began this month, the new film will likely hit screens for the first time in mid-late 2016.