MGM and Relativity Media Land Rights to The Matarese Circle

MGM and financing and production company Relativity Media have secured the rights to the Robert Ludlum novel The Matarese Circle, an espionage thriller that sees two rival spies forced to team up to take down a ring of killers known as the Matarese. Set to star in the film is Academy Award winner and box office behemoth Denzel Washington, while Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (3:10 to Yuma) will pen the flick. Jeffrey Weiner (The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Supremacy), Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) and Nick Wechsler (North Country) will produce.

With the extraordinary success of the Bourne franchise and more than 20 novels to his credit, the late novelist Ludlum may just become the new go-to guy in Hollywood when a studio is looking for that next lucrative action vehicle for (insert big-name star here).