Make it a Movie: Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn
In our Making it a Movie section we play the role of movie producers and map out the movie production.
Based on: Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn
Genre: Action/Thriller
Logline: Die Hard in the Whitehouse.
Terrorists, hostages, bombs, drama and action. Sounds like the perfect movie, right? Instead of John McClain you Have Mitch Rapp and instead of breaking into the Nakatomi vault, the terrorists are trying to break into a bunker protecting the president.
Main Characters/Casting:
Mitch Rapp – On our podcast we talked about how Rapp is up there with the greatest fictional action hero’s ever created. He’s John McClain, James Bond, and Jason Bourne wrapped into one, or should I say Mitch Rapped into one…
The book described him like this “He was all man and then some… nothing pretty about him, handsome and rugged… a real man”. Simple fact is men want him, men want to be him. The CIA super assassin needs to be played someone that, can be a leading man and can elicit fear with just a look. That is why we went with Tom Hardy. He’s got that darkness behind the eyes, the physicality, and the serious demeanor needed to pull off the role.
Thomas Stansfield – The head of the CIA, he’s always smartest guy in the room who commands instant respect. He’s reserved, but when he speaks people listen. Morgan Freeman just makes too much sense, he’ll own any room he walks into and any scenes he’s in.
Irene Kennedy – Stansfield’s protégé and is basically a younger version of Stansfield, she’s also smart, reserved and pretty much the only person Mitch Rapp respects. Jessica Chastain character in Zero Dark 30 would make a great Irene Kennedy and would fit perfectly for this role.
Anna O’Reily – A media member and hostage during the terrorist take over, she plays the damsel in distress, but with street smarts. Ana de Armas just seems like a good fit here, maybe its just because they have the same name or Ana de Armas is absolutely fuego either way, it works.
Production Notes:
Vince Flynn’s American Assassin has already been made into a movie. It is a prequel to this book and basically a Mitch Rapp origin story. It doesn’t do the character or series justice. There have already been two movies that pretty much ripped this book off made in 2013 White House Down & Olympus Has Fallen.
Both of these movies seem like rip offs/water down versions of Transfer of Power. Even Vince Flynn commented on them “Neither of these movies are Mitch Rapp movies nor do I have any involvement in either project. It is very difficult to prove where a producer, director or screenwriter gets an idea, or to prove how their ideas may have been inspired.”
Who do you think should paly these characters? Let us know! And check out our podcast episode on this book.
