Gerard Butler tapped for 'Manhunt'

Director Breck Eisner (The Crazies) is set to direct the upcoming action-thriller, Manhunt based on a script by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (both from Children of Men). As of yesterday, the new film already has a star in mind: Gerard Butler.

Deadline has stated that the film follows domestic terrorist and cunning survival expert, James Tollan as he is tracked by an FBI team into the North Carolina wilderness. Tollan has evaded capture with the help of local townspeople, but his ruthless violence has made him a high-priority target for the FBI. In great need of assistance, the FBI team requests a reluctant local bear hunter to help capture Tollan, which leads to an intense cat-and-mouse game where Tollan ensures that he will not go down without a fight. Deadline does not specify the role that Butler has been eyed for.

Manhunt marks the eleventh film Butler is attached to appear in over the next year or so. Collider nicely lists them as following: Hunter Killer with Sam Worthington and director Antoine Fuqua, Thunder Run also with Worthington and Matthew McConaughey, a Ridley Scott-directed mercenary pic that is supposedly fact based and currently untitled, Robert Luketic's Brilliant, Curtis Hanson's Of Men and Mavericks, Playing the Field with Jessica Biel and Dennis Quaid, Olympus Has Fallen which follows an assault on the White House, How to Train Your Dragon 2, revenge picture Motor City, and Afterburn which is an adaptation of a sci-fi comic.

No word on Manhunt's production start date or tentative release date.