The British are coming. Hasbro and Working Title are developing an Action Man film based on cult British toyline — and a trio of creatives with ties to Marvel Studios are joining forces to develop it.
Writing the script are Simon Hatt, who spent a decade at Marvel working with James Gunn and rising to become executive producer on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Anthony Sellitti, a scribe best known for his work on the Emmy-nominated X-Men ’97 animated series.
Jeremy Latcham, who executive produced the early Avengers movies for Marvel before breaking out on his own in 2017, is producing the project. He brings Hasbro experience with him, as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is among his producing credits.
Hasbro declined to comment. Working Title did not respond to a request for comment.
Toy maker Palitoy debuted Action Man in 1966, piggybacking off the success of G.I. Joe two years earlier in the U.S. For a few years, its action figures were similar in look and style to G.I. Joe, but the company soon began to develop Action Man’s own style to lean into its British identity. Amid ups and downs, by the 1990s it was re-invented to be more of a James Bond style character and brought back again in the 2010s.
Both Hatt, who is British, and Sellitti grew up on the action figures and pursued the project aggressively, with Hatt calling in a favor to a stunt crew, enlisting them to create a fight pre-vis that helped sell the project and its blend of action and comedy to Hasbro and Working Title.
Their take on the project is said to be deeply British with a reverence for action cinema.
The U.K.-based Working Title was seen as a natural fit for the movie, given its deep bench of British classics such as Love Actually and the Bridget Jones’s Diary films, Edgar Wright titles like Baby Driver and Last Night and Soho, and recent hits like The Sheep Detectives.
Hatt is repped by UTA, Underground, Insight Management & Production and Frankfurt Kurnit.
Sellitti is repped by WME, 3 Arts Entertainment and Jackoway Austen.
