Michelle MacLaren is taking her genre expertise to the big screen. The “Game of Thrones,” “Westworld,” and “Breaking Bad” director has signed on to helm Chris Pratt-starrer “Cowboy Ninja Viking” for Universal, The Hollywood Reporter confirms.
The action pic centers on a “counter-intelligence unit that uses multiple personality disorder patients to create agents known as Triplets, referring to the three personalities the killers have. When the agents become rogue hired guns, the deadliest Triplet of them all, Cowboy Ninja Viking, is called in to take down his own brethren.”
Emmy winner MacLaren reportedly beat out Jennifer Yuh Nelson (“Kung Fu Panda”) and Rick Famuyiwa (“Dope”) for the job. It’s news like this that suggests Hollywood might finally be changing. Usually short lists are dominated by white men, if not entirely comprised of them, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see two women — one of whom is a woman of color — and a man of color were the final candidates to direct a high-profile studio film.
Scheduled for a June 28, 2019 release, “Cowboy Viking Ninja” is based on the comic series of the same name.
MacLaren is also attached to direct “The Nightingale,” a drama about two sisters growing up in German-occupied France in the years leading up to World War II. She was originally signed on to helm “Wonder Woman” but left the project due to creative differences and was replaced with Patty Jenkins.
