According to Deadline, Vince Vaughn's Wild West Picture Show Productions has "used its discretionary fund"—normally set aside for shitty comedy tours and sandwiches—to buy Vaughn's way back into the drama business. The company has just optioned The Risk Agent from suspense author Ridley Pearson, with Vaughn attached to star as John Knox, a Shanghai-based security expert, who teams with Grace Chu, a local female forensic accountant, to rescue the kidnapped Chinese contractor of an American construction company. Playing a tough military type in a political thriller will be something of a departure for Vaughn, who's primarily been lounging in relaxed-fit comedies for most of the past decade—that is, until China reminds Universal that it won't screen any movies that depict the Chinese in an unflattering light, the studio changes The Risk Agent into a comedy about two bumbling Americans on vacation, and replaces the character of Grace Chu with a guy played by Kevin James.
Join the discussion...