Since it was first announced in 2016, not much has been revealed about the Netflix film adaptation of Ubisoft’s The Division. But now, hot off the release of his latest movie, director David Leitch has stated that production on The Division movie is “accelerating quickly.”
In an interview with the Deadpool 2 and Hobbs and Shaw director, the Hollywood Reporter asked if he would be working on The Division‘s movie adaptation next. In response to this, Leitch, who took over from Stephen Gaghan last year, mentioned that they were still working on the script. Despite this, he was “excited about the material” and that could be his next project.
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“We are currently in the script phase,” mentioned Leitch. “Then, it’s about getting everybody’s schedules to line up and making sure that we’re ready to go with a script we’re 100% behind. That process is accelerating quickly. I love that material, and I love the potential of working with those two incredible actors.”
The last line refers to the two actors currently attached to the film: Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain. Gyllenhaal of course, is no stranger to video game movie adaptations, let alone one involving a Ubisoft property. The decidedly non-Persian Gyllenhaal previously starred in the film adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as the titular Persian Prince Dastan.
When asked about the film in separate interview, Gyllenhaal stated that he would be interested in training for it at Leitch’s 87Eleven action design studio. Keanu Reeves famously trained at 87Eleven to prepare for his role in the John Wick films.
“Yeah! I’m up for it. I’m up for anything, man,” stated Gyllenhaal. “This job is about the experiences you have off-camera as much as the experiences you have on-camera. So, I’m down.”
The fact that both Leitch and Gyllenhaal are excited to work on The Division‘s film adaptation should hopefully be great news not just for fans, but for Ubisoft as well. The company plans to produce films for its other franchises such as Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, and Watch Dogs. Getting The Division out the door should help these other projects move forward.
