EXCLUSIVE: In a highly competitive situation, Netflix has acquired The Operator, an action thriller spec from Harrison Query, with Mark Wahlberg attached to star, sources tell Deadline.
Reps for Netflix declined to comment. We’re told that the film has Wahlberg playing an ex-Tier One Operator who earns a living as one of the CIA’s invisible clean-up men. When he’s ordered to shepherd his most hated target to safety, the mission turns into a high-stakes cat and mouse game for survival.
For Wahlberg and his producing partner, Stephen Levinson, the project marks a continuing partnership with Netflix following work on starring vehicles for the actor including Spenser Confidential, The Union and Me Time.
The Picture Company partners Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona will produce along with Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson and their Municipal Pictures banner, as well as Scott Glassgold and his 12:01 Films, with Ǫuery exec producing. A director search is currently underway.
Remarkably, the sale is Query’s second in just two weeks at Netflix, which just ordered his Joel Edgerton actioner Trigger Point straight to series. Jeremy Saulnier is on board to direct and exec produce, with Query to showrun and EP the show he created.
Most recently seen starring in Lionsgate’s Flight Risk, Apple’s Family Plan films and Amazon MGM’s Play Dirty, Wahlberg has a packed slate ahead with films including Peter Farrelly’s Amazon MGM action comedy Balls Up, the crime thriller By Any Means from The Inspection‘s Elegance Bratton, Ted:The Animated Series at Peacock, and a new Stephen Chbosky flick for Apple TV. He is represented by WME, Leverage Management and Sloane Offer Weber & Dern.
It’s been a banner year for Query, who earlier this year got competitive bidding going over “Code Black,” a short story he sold to Amazon MGM, where he will be adapting, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring and producing alongside Sixth & Idaho and Glassgold’s 12:01 Films. Earlier this year, he saw Heads of State, his Amazon MGM actioner starring John Cena and Idris Elba, establish itself as Prime Video’s fourth-most-streamed movie of all time. Up next for him is Paramount+/101 Studios’ JonBenét Ramsey limited series, starring Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen, where he’s co-creator and EP. He is repped by CAA, Ground Control and Jeff Frankel.
Coming off a Best Picture nomination for A Complete Unknown, James Mangold’s Bob Dylan film starring Timothée Chalamet, The Picture Company will next year shoot the Amazon MGM thriller Tyrant, pairing Charlize Theron with filmmaker David Weil, as well as David Gordon Green’s Supermax for Miramax. The company is repped by CAA.
Glassgold’s 12:01 has been on a tear this this year, setting up numerous projects including Fallen Astronaut at Apple, Ripped starring Dwayne Johnson at 20th Century Studios and Drift at Paramount/Skydance. Up next for Glassgold will a Drew Hancock-helmed adaptation of Ǫuery’s bestselling novel, My Wife And I Bought A Ranch, for Amazon MGM Studios. Glassgold is represented by Verve and attorney Jeff Frankel.
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