Pablo Trapero To Direct Adaptation Of Olen Steinhauer’s ‘The Tourist’ For 20th Century

EXCLUSIVE: After being the lead director on acclaimed shows like ZeroZeroZero and Echo 3, Pablo Trapero is getting his first major studio gig. 20th Century has tapped him to direct a film adaptation of The Tourist. Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe are producing.

Based on the series of books by Olen Steinhauer, the first of which debuted in 2009 and became a New York Times bestseller, the story follows Milo Weaver, an agent in the secret branch of the CIA that specializes in black ops with the code name “The Tourists.” Three sequel novels followed, with Hollywood in hot pursuit; George Clooney at one point was circling the rights.

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20th Century now sees this as a potential franchise and fits into Trapero’s wheelhouse with ZeroZeroZero and Echo 3 earning rave reviews for their tense action scenes with special ops scenarios front and center.

Trapero’s first feature, Mundo Grua, won the Critics Prize at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. He has subsequently written, directed, and produced many critically and commercially successful films that have played at the likes of the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival and Venice.

Trapero’s 2015 film El Clan opened to critical and commercial success in his home country of Argentina, setting the record for the largest opening-weekend box office of all time. It went on to premiere at Venice, where he won the Silver Lion for Best Director.

In 2019, he directed the climactic episodes of ZeroZeroZero, the crime series starring Andrea Riseborough and Dane DeHaan, for Amazon Prime, Cattleya and executive producer Stefano Sollima. Most recently, Trapero served as the lead director and executive producer on the Apple+ series Echo 3 for showrunner Mark Boal and Keshet Studios. The series starring Luke Evans, Michiel Huisman, Jessica Ann Collins and Martina Gusmán premiered in 2022.

Trapero is repped by CAA and Entertainment 360.

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