Warner Bros. has acquired "
Dead Spy Running," an upcoming spy novel by British author Jon Stock for McG to direct that would serve as a launch of a franchise character.
While story details are under wraps, the book, the first of a trilogy, aims to reinvent the spy genre. It tells the origin story of newly trained spy in a tone that mixes "The Bourne Identity" with the works of John Le Carre. "Running" sold to a HarperCollins imprint in a bidding war and will be published in 2009.