The Division Movie announced a big change with Rawson Marshall Thurber now set to direct the film adaptation. Coming exclusively to Netflix, the film already has both Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal on board.
Thurber takes over from David Leitch, originally signing on to helm back in 2018. Known for films like Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2, it seems that Leitch may have too much on his plate to continue working on the video game adaptation. Leitch is actually the second director to leave after Stephen Gaghan.
Changes to the Movie
Thurber, meanwhile, is known for Skyscraper and the upcoming Red Notice, both of which star Dwayne Johnson. That’s not the only big change coming to The Division Movie. When Leitch first went on board, it was Rafe Judkins that was set to work on the screenplay.
With Thurber in the director’s seat, he’s going to work on the script from scratch with Ellen Shanman. Shanman’s writing credits include Tiger & Bunny and The Hidden Girl.
Full-Length Feature
It was in June 2016 when it was announced that a full-length live-action version was in development. Jake Gyllenhaal was already named to be in the lead role with Jessica Chastain later added in the same year. During Ubisoft’s presentation at E3 2019, it was revealed that the film was to be released exclusively for Netflix.
So what’s the story about? If the announcements are to be believed, it’s going to be pretty similar to the game. That is, a virus is being transmitted via paper money that led to an epidemic. It started on Black Friday and decimated New York City. By Christmas, most of society has been thrown into chaos. To ensure order, a group of civilians trained to operate in such times have been activated.
Short Film
This isn’t technically the first live-action film to adapt The Division. A short film was released back in 2016 titled Tom Clancy's The Division: Agent Origins. You can watch the trailer of that short film here.
The short film shows four agents who have recently been activated and served as the last line of defense.
So what do you think of the new changes to the upcoming film?
