EXCLUSIVE: The Sony Pictures and Platinum Dunes thriller It Had To Be You is locking in one of the best action directors in town, as Sam Hargrave is coming aboard to helm. Eliza Jane Brazier wrote the script for the pic, which is based on her novel of the same name. She is also an executive producer.
The film follows two contract killers, each with a hit out on the other, who must fight their growing attraction as they face off in an epic game of lust and murder across Western Europe.
Hargrave will produce along with Cameron Fuller of Platinum Dunes. Fuller has put the project together since its inception, selling the spec to the studio without any talent last year and played a big part in landing Hargrave. Sony will now look to land high-profile stars for its leading roles that will be sure to attract plenty of interest with Hargrave now in the mix.
Hargrave continues to grow a robust slate with tentpole projects that includes his upcoming Matchbox: The Movie, which bows this summer from Apple and Skydance and stars John Cena. He is currently in pre-production on the next installment in the Extraction series, which will shoot this summer with Chris Hemsworth returning to star.
Since beginning his career as a stuntman and stunt coordinator, Hargrave has established himself as a filmmaker of note, known for unique and character-driven action in his work across film and TV. A five-time winner of the Taurus World Stunt Award and a SAG Award winner, Hargrave was a stunt coordinator for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War.
He made his feature directorial debut with the AGBO- and Russo Brothers-produced action thriller Extraction, starring Hemsworth, and returned to direct the sequel Extraction 2, which continued the series’ streak of record-breaking Netflix viewership. He next served as a director and executive producer on the Apple TV original drama series The Last Frontier, created by Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio and starring Jason Clarke. Most recently, Hargrave wrapped Matchbox: The Movie, starring Cena and Jessica Biel.
He is repped by WME and Goodman, Genow.