At this point, Chris Pratt is essentially sitting at the very top of the Hollywood tree. Having successfully shed his Parks And Recreation character, the actor now has his fingers in many blockbuster pies. He’s currently working on Jurassic World 2, having seen the first Jurassic World take the box office by storm in 2015; he voiced the character of Emmet Brickowski in The LEGO Movie, which means he’ll undoubtedly continue to have an endless stream of sequel opportunities, and he’s the lead in the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise, forming part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – which means he also gets to be in the next Avengers films, too. He really just needs a Star Wars movie and he’ll have the set. But, he’s aiming to create a franchise of his own, now. That project comes in the form of Cowboy Ninja Viking, and it’s definitely still happening.
Cowboy Ninja Viking is based upon a 2009 comic book series created by A.J Lieberman and Riley Rossmo. The premise centres on a counter intelligence unit that’s formed by Dr. Sebastian Ghislain – a psychiatrist – and its members, who are known as Triplets, because they each have three distinct personalities. Duncan is the titular Triplet, and he’s the most effective assassin in the group. When the unit breaks down, and his colleagues become hired killers, it’s up to Duncan to resolve the situation.
The film has been in development for a number of years, and has passed through many hands. Chris Pratt has been attached for a while now though and it certainly sounds as if he’s taking an active role in shaping what this project will ultimately be – not unlike Ryan Reynolds did with Deadpool, perhaps. Now that Pratt is busy promoting Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, Collider asked him about the status of the Cowboy Ninja Viking, and the actor was more than happy to provide an update.
“It’s still in development. It’s definitely no joke. We’ve got a deal and we’re moving forward. It’s going to be [with] Universal. It’s going to be really, really fantastic … We don’t have a director. It’s together, it’s being put together. But we’re in the process of talking to directors.”
This seems to confirm that the most recent directors to have been attached to the project have indeed stepped away. Initially, Marc Forster (World War Z) was said to be set to take the helm of the film, which had been written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Zombieland, Deadpool). Then, Craig Mazin (Identity Thief) was rumoured to be undertaking a re-write, with David Leitch and Chad Stahelski (John Wick) at the helm. Now, it seems the director’s chair is currently empty.
I’m going to take a wild guess and predict that whoever is finally selected as director will be a man, but beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess. Chris Pratt is certainly not giving anything else away, other than the fact that Cowboy Ninja Viking is still happening, he’s still in it, and it’s still going to be really, really fantastic.