It’s becoming a familiar logline: Ex-special forces/secret agent/thief/mob enforcer’s daughter is kidnapped, bringing him out of retirement to exact righteous vengeance on the perpetrators. Not quite an original premise, it was certainly brought to the forefront by 2008’s Liam Neeson-starring Taken, and nearly flat-out copied by last year’s box office bomb Stolen, which starred Nicholas Cage. Now Bruce Willis is getting in on the action.
Unlike Neeson or Cage, it won’t be Willis’s daughter who goes missing, but rather the offspring of an as-yet uncast retired mob enforcer. Willis’s character has some beef with the man, and has been waiting to confront him for years. Why Willis didn’t just hop on a plane, along with the rest of the plot, is yet to be revealed.
Production on the project is being planned for October, and casting is underway for the other key roles. The Prince is being produced by Emmet/Furla Films, who have a history of making similar action/thrillers. They were behind the recent buddy cop movie 2 Guns, which starred Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, as well as the forthcoming Sly Stalone/Arnold Schwarzenegger jailbreak flick Escape Plan. Notable also is the Navy SEAL true story Lone Survivor, which sneaks in with a limited release on the final Friday of the year before expanding wide in early 2014.