Doug Liman is in final negotiations to direct Splinter Cell, the adaptation of the Ubisoft video game which the company is developing with New Regency.

Tom Hardy is attached to star in the feature, which is now eyeing an August start date and a planned 2015 release.

Basil Iwanyk of Thunder Road Pictures and Jean-Julien Baronnet of Ubisoft Motion Picture Group are producing. Liman will also produce along with his partner, David Bartis.

Liman’s boarding now brings the project the closest its been to the runway. Cell was previously in development at DreamWorks and Paramount and at one point had Pete Berg attached to direct.

Doug Liman has revealed that his forthcoming Splinter Cell movie will deal with a younger Sam Fisher, and stated that he’s looking forward to bringing a stripped down version of the character to the big screen.

Liman is currently doing the publicity rounds for new film Edge of Tomorrow, and explained that he and star Tom Hardy are currently busy developing their next project...

“I’m working on the script with Tom Hardy” he explained. “I think we have a great take on how to make an awesome film out of that.”

Liman acknowledged that Hardy is pretty young to be playing Sam Fisher, revealing “Everything about Splinter Cell will be younger. It’s a chance to come up with a new franchise that is fresher and newer and younger, and Tom Hardy is such an incredible actor.”

As for whether or not those iconic ‘Multi-Vision Goggles’ will feature, Liman said “Some of the tropes of the game will for sure be in the film, but also the fun of that is when you lose them. To strip that stuff away and really make the character have to operate without it. “

Splinter Cell is due to hit screens sometime next year, while Edge of Tomorrow is out now in the UK and releases worldwide over the next few days.

Doug Liman has revealed that his forthcoming Splinter Cell movie will deal with a younger Sam Fisher, and stated that he’s looking forward to bringing a stripped down version of the character to the big screen.

Liman acknowledged that Hardy is pretty young to be playing Sam Fisher, revealing “Everything about Splinter Cell will be younger. It’s a chance to come up with a new franchise that is fresher and newer and younger, and Tom Hardy is such an incredible actor.”

EXCLUSIVE: New Regency and Ubisoft Motion Pictures have set Frank John Hughes to write the next draft of the movie adaptation of the video game series Splinter Cell. The film has Mad Max: Fury Road‘s Tom Hardy attached to star and Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk producing with John Julian, Dave Bartis and Liman.

They are taking their time getting this one right as Eric Warren Singer wrote the first draft and Sheldon Turner has been among the scribes working on this. Hughes, who as an actor has been seen in 24, The Sopranos and Band Of Brothers, most recently adapted the sci-fi novel Shovel Ready for Warner Bros. Hardy will play Sam Fisher, a highly trained special operative in a fictional black-ops sub-division, “Echelon.” Fisher and the agents of Echelon utilize combat skills, weapons and cutting-edge gadgets to neutralize international terrorist threats and rogue forces in modern, realistic stories ripped from the headlines. Fisher is repped by UTA.