Tom Holland Thriller Movie The Partner Taps Beloved Actor to Direct

Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Jason Bateman has entered negotiations to direct Universal Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of The Partner, based on John Grisham‘s bestselling 1997 novel of the same name. The project is being produced by Marvel vet Tom Holland and brother Harry Holland through their Billy17 production banner. The Spider-Man actor is also currently in talks to play the leading role of Patrick Lanigan.

Per Deadline, should Bateman’s deal push through, the Ozark actor will also serve as an executive producer for Aggregate Films. This would mark Bateman’s first directorial feature in a long while, after 2013’s Bad Words and 2015’s The Family Fang.

What do we know about Tom Holland’s The Partner movie?

“The story follows Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a white shoe Biloxi law firm who fakes his own death in a burning car. He’s left behind a wife, newborn daughter, and a secret,” reads the synopsis. “What he’s actually done is fake his death to create a template for a new life by stealing $90 million from a client of his crooked law firm. He finds happiness and love in South America. When the client, who worked so hard to defraud the government, finds the money is missing from his offshore accounts, he becomes determined to hunt down the lawyer he doesn’t believe is dead. That leads the attorney to have to turn himself in to the FBI and face up to the wife, child, and life he left behind.”

The Partner movie will be written by The Imitation Game scribe Graham Moore. It will also be produced by Will South and Jonathan Eirich, along with Aggregate Films’ Michael Costigan. Executive producers are Grisham, Nick Reynolds, and David Gernert. Rideback acquired the rights to the novel after the project was originally set up at New Regency. Universal Pictures executives Ryan Jones and Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project on behalf of the studio.

Holland will next be seen starring in his Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey, with Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and fiancée Zendaya. At the moment, he’s currently in production for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will arrive in theaters on July 31, 2026. Besides The Partner, Holland is also attached to star opposite Austin Butler in the sports drama movie American Speed.

(Source: Deadline)

Source: Comingsoon.net