‘Floyd,’ Action Film Concept Described as ‘John Wick’ Meets ‘Big Lebowski,’ Underway From Writer Erik Olsen
“Floyd,” an original action feature centered around a Latino veteran described as “John Wick” meets “The Big Lebowski,” is currently in development.
Erik Olsen (“The Dirt,” “The Book of Eli”) is writing the script and will produce the project with Navid Mcllhargey. Story Kitchen, a media company focused on world-building and untapped intellectual property rights, is on board to produce the project with Exile Content Studio.
The Los Angeles-set story will follow a former marine given the nickname Floyd by his corps. Marine vet William Brownlee will serve as a co-producer and consultant.
“From apprenticing for Erik and Navid 16-plus years ago at Silver Pictures/Dark Castle to becoming their creative partner, ‘Floyd’ is a dream come true,” said Mike Goldberg, co-founder of Story Kitchen. He is joined in the venture by prolific screenwriter and partner Derek Kolstad, creator of the “John Wick” franchise, and Dmitri M. Johnson, the film and TV producer who secured adaptive rights to and shepherded the Paramount hit franchise “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Kolstad, who also wrote the sleeper Universal hit “Nobody,” added simply: “I fuckin’ love these guys.”
Olsen started as a producer for Joel Silver at Warner Bros., where his credits included “Orphan.” He most recently worked on “The Dirt,” Netflix’s Mötley Crüe biopic. His label, Apocalyptic Entertainment, is currently in development on projects for XYZ Films, Paramount Plus and Netflix. Mcllhargey also hails from Silver’s company before holding an SVP title at New Regency. He was most recently a supervising producer on Amazon’s “Modern Love.”
Exile Content Studio is a producer specializing in broad English and Spanish-language entertainment. It has significant investment from Candle Media, founded by co-chairmen and co-CEOs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Candle is backed by investment capital from funds managed by Blackstone.
“Erik’s idea was instantly intriguing: a high octane tour de force franchise couched in comedy. And to have the creator of ‘John Wick’ giving guidance pretty much makes this the coolest project I’ve ever worked on,” said Exile chief strategy officer Eric Bromberg.
Exile studio head Nando Vila added that “If we can’t make a big action movie with a Latino lead at the center of it, then Exile shouldn’t exist. We are so honored to partner with Derek Kolstad, the true master of the genre, on a film that I think will be historic.”
Olsen and Mcllhargey are repped by Tifanie Acosta at Entertainment Law Partners. Story Kitchen is repped by Jennifer Levy at Behr Abramson Levy Johnson, and Simon Pulman and Briana Hill, at Pryor Cashman LLC.
Read more here
