Sony Buys 'The Intern's Handbook' As Potential Franchise For Dave Franco
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After head-turning supporting roles in 21 Jump Street, Now You See Me and Neighbors, Dave Franco is getting the call up to the majors. Just like his big brother. Sony has just purchased the rights to a new book, The Intern's Handbook: A Thriller by Shane Kuhn, with an eye on kicking off a franchise with the younger Franco in the lead.
The book's about an agency who places interns into major corporations, but they're really assassins. Oren Uziel, who co-wrote next month's 22 Jump Street as well as Kitchen Sink for the studio, will adapt the property.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of the deal. The book only hit shelves last month but still sold for high six figures. Here are some more details from Amazon:
John Lago is a very bad guy. But he's the very best at what he does. And what he does is infiltrate top-level companies and assassinate crooked executives while disguised as an intern.
Interns are invisible. That's the secret behind HR, Inc., the elite "placement agency" that doubles as a network of assassins for hire who take down high-profile targets that wouldn't be able to remember an intern's name if their lives depended on it.
At the ripe old age of almost twenty-five, John Lago is already New York City's most successful hit man. He's also an intern at a prestigious Manhattan law firm, clocking eighty hours a week getting coffee, answering phones, and doing all the grunt work actual employees are too lazy to do. He was hired to assassinate one of the firm's heavily guarded partners. His internship provides the perfect cover, enabling him to gather intel and gain access to pull off a clean, untraceable hit.
Part confessional, part DIY manual, The Intern's Handbook chronicles John's final assignment, a twisted thrill ride in which he is pitted against the toughest—and sexiest—adversary he's ever faced: Alice, an FBI agent assigned to take down the same law partner he's been assigned to kill.
Franco, of course, would be playing Lago.
Neil Moritz, a producer on Jump Street as well as the Fast and Furious movies, told the THR they see the book as the start of a potential franchise and Franco as the perfect poster boy:
We really feel like he's the next star. We just think he has immense talent as a leading man and he's someone who can do humor. He's paid his dues. He' s built a great resume of co-starring roles and he's ready to be a lead. He's not some guy being plucked from nowhere and told he's the next big thing.
Everything about this project makes sense in a way. Fun idea, rising star, there's all the potential in the world if it's adapted and directed well. Do you agree?