I'll admit, a title like Cowboy Ninja Viking sends the 13-yr old kid in me into a frenzy. Forster, best known for Quantum of Solace, Monsters Ball, and Machine Gun Preacher definitely brings some credibility to the project. Upon looking at the premise, it seems the story tells the tale of schizophrenics who are sent through a government assassin program and emerges with the skills of...you guessed it, a cowboy, a ninja and a viking. Reportedly, the idea is to turn the Image Comic property into a franchise.
Originally, the rights were with Disney, however the film was deemed too "edgy" and the rights ended up with Universal Pictures. Deadline notes that, "This is the second time that Universal has gotten a Disney-developed fast tracked project that was based on a graphic novel. Universal is about to start production on Oblivion, the Joseph Kosinski-directed post apocalyptic thriller that stars Tom Cruise. Like Cowboy Ninja Viking, Disney let it go and was reimbursed its development costs."
The script has been written by Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. Forster is currently shooting World War Z with Brad Pitt.
Cowboy Ninja Viking is a Image Comics comic book created by writer A.J. Lieberman and artist Riley Rossmo. The series debuted in 2009, released through Image Comics' partner studio Shadowline.
The series revolves around a counter-intelligence unit of Multiple Personality Disorder patients, formed by psychotherapist Dr. Sebastian Ghislain, who are transformed into agents known as Triplets (referring to the three different personalities inside their minds). After the unit falls apart its various members are turned into hired killers. Duncan, a Triplet who channels the skills of a Cowboy, Ninja, and Viking, is sent to find and stop the rogue Triplets.
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