Benedict Cumberbatch to Star in Adaptation of Rogue Male

Benedict Cumberbatch will star in and produce a film adaptation of Rogue Male, the 1939 survivalist thriller by Geoffrey Household told of a hunter who attempts to assassinate a dictator but is caught, tortured and left for dead. When he escapes back home to England, he must hide out in a harsh countryside with the enemy agents as well as the police in hot pursuit. Rogue Male was published in 1939 and the author, Geoffrey Household, said the dictator was intended to be a stand-in for Adolph Hitler.

The novel has fascinated directors and actors from the day it came out. Twentieth Century Fox adapted it in 1940 as Man Hunt, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Walter Pidgeon (and with Hitler as the dictator) and Peter O’Toole starred in a BBC production made for television in 1977. 

Michael Lesslie (Macbeth, Assassin's Creed) will  write the screenplay for the project, which is set up at Fox Searchlight. Cumberbatch is producing the film with Lloyd Levin, Branwen Prestwood Smith and Beatriz Levin of Black Sheep Pictures. Also producing will be Adam Ackland of SunnyMarch, Cumberbatch's production company.

"I am thrilled both as an actor and producer to be working on bringing this most treasured of English novels to the big screen," said Cumberbatch.

Household specialized in thrillers and wrote 28 novels. Rogue Male was a best-seller and is regarded as his masterpiece.

--From Hollywood Reporter