David Fincher to Adapt French Graphic Novel The Killer for Netflix

David Fincher's Mank, a meditation on Hollywood, Citizen Kane, and authorship, was only released back in December, but already we've gotten wind of the filmmaker's next project. The Fight Club filmmaker has reportedly signed on to adapt The Killer, based on a French graphic novel of the same, about an assassin who experiences an existential crisis and comes to realise that maybe murdering people for cash incentives isn't great for your mental health.

The Killer will also bring Fincher – who has a four-year deal with Netflix – back to his favourite territory: that of the serial killer. It makes sense, then, that the script has been written by none other Andrew Kevin Walker, who penned the screenplay for Fincher's own Se7en, but has worked as a script doctor on basically all of his feature films since. What's more, it's rumoured that Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Prometheus) is currently in negotiations to play the titular assassin, which would be nice.

This is well-worn territory, of course: the “hitman with a consensus” trope has been the subject of countless movies over the years, from The American with George Clooney, to Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here (both great). Still, if this news isn't exactly world-shaking, we shouldn't be all that surprised: Fincher has always had a thing for accessible, pulpy source material, from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to Gone Girl. Thankfully, he also has an excellent track record for making very considered and artful blockbusters out of them. Bring it on!

You can read our full review of Mank here.