It looks like Lionsgate is not wasting any time when it comes to their big-screen version of the upcoming Eidos Interactive video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Variety reports that Jieho Lee is in talks to direct the film version of the action title. This would be the third film for writer/director Lee, whose last pic was the drama The Air I Breathe with Sarah Michelle Gellar, which played at Tribeca. There are already two scripts being prepped Kane; one by Lee and Bob De Rosa -- who was also his co-writer on The Air I Breathe, and the other is a solo effort from Kyle Ward -- a 27 year old assistant at Dreamworks who, just over a month ago, had sold his first script and was then hired to pen the adaptation for Lionsgate. On board to produce are Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter -- they are also the producing team behind Hitman (another Eidos title), and the graphic novel adaptation Hack/Slash.

The storyline of both the film and the game center on a psychopath (Lynch) and a mercenary (Kane) out for revenge. The two are kidnapped from death-row by Kane's former team and forced into retrieving a stolen fortune -- and like most shooter action games, there are shadowy conspiracies and a relatively high body count. The video game is set for release this fall for X-Box 360, so judging by the speed with witch Lionsgate is working on the project, the film might even try for an early release and use the game's release for a little built-in marketing.

It's starting to look like Eidos Interactive is looking to flood the market with big screen video game remakes. Now that Hitman finally has its...well, Hitman. Eidos has already struck another deal with Lionsgate for their new action title Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a game that hasn't even been released. Eidos made the deal with Hitman producers Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter. Askarieh and Alter are also on board to produce the big screen adaptation of the horror comic Hack/Slash for Rogue Pictures, and Askarieh is working on a Spy Hunter project with Universal.

The game centers on a mercenary named Kane and a heavily medicated psychopath named Lynch on their way to Death Row. The pair are kidnapped by Kane's former gang and forced to retrieve a stolen fortune. The game was first announced at a Microsoft conference in September and is set for release some time this year. The game is a co-operative action story and Xbox is hoping it will be a hit among online players. Game developers even promised that the characters' personalities would influence the game play. If the video game is promising a sophisticated story line and fleshed-out characters, we can only hope that the movie version does the same.