Jake Gyllenhaal Set to Star in Ubisoft’s THE DIVISION Movie
The video game company Ubisoft is currently developing a feature film adaptation of their hit video game Tom Clancy's The Division. The project just took a huge step forward with the casting Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role. He's attached to serve as a producer on the project as well.
The Division has been a huge success for Ubisoft as it's one of their fastest-selling games. The game brought in $330 million in the first five days of its release! This will beGyllenhaal's second video game film. The first was Prince of Persia. Hopefully The Division turns out a lot better for him.
The studio is currently looking for a writer to tackle the script, and they are looking to add at least one more actor to the film package before they shop it around to studios. Here's the plot synopsis for the game for those of you who aren't familiar:
In 2001, an operation known as "Dark Winter" was launched which was a real-world exercise that tested the emergency response to a bioterror attack on the United States. The simulation spiraled out of control within a few days, and predicted that a "breakdown in essential institutions," civil disorder, and massive civilian casualties. This event came true when a virus was created that attached to bank notes (Nicknamed the Green flu due to its origination in America), circulated on Black Friday causing within a day an international pandemic. Manhattan, where the gameplay is set, is where the virus originated and the effects of the viral pandemic was the worst.
The player is an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division, and he is tasked with helping to rebuild the Division’s operations in Manhattan, investigating the nature of the outbreak and combating criminal activity in its wake.
Ubisoft already has two other film projects coming out. Those are Assassin's Creed with Michael Fassbender and Splinter Cell with Tom Hardy. These films have the potential to usher in a new era of video game movies that could actually be great.
Gyllenhaal is an incredibly talented actor who has starred in some great films recently, such as Nightcrawler and Southpaw. He gave some pretty powerful and intense performances in those films. His next project is called Nocturnal Animals with Amy Adams, but with a film like The Division, it looks like he's ready to try and jump into a big-budget franchise film again.
This seems like a great project for the actor to be a part. Ubisoft just has to surround him with a talented team to ensure that the movie turns out awesome.
Source: Variety