It’s Luc Besson night here on Cinema Blend. It seems rumors of his retirement may have indeed been very exaggerated… by him. In addition to making an Arthur and the Invisibles sequel, he’s also now working on the long rumored movie adaptation of the Eidos videogame Hitman.

Since we first started hearing about the film, Vin Diesel has been the guy attached to star. But AICN says Vin has been blown out the door. Luc Besson has come on to co-produce it, and Timothy Olyphant of TV’s ‘Deadwood’ has been brought in to star. And now the movie’s been greenlit by Fox.

Vin Diesel has really dropped off the radar lately. For awhile the guy was the next big thing, but now he’s dropping out of high profile projects left and right. Olyphant though, is an interesting choice. The guy has had a lot of heat lately, having been cast as the bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard, and now this. I really like the guy. I’m not a “Deadwood” fan, but he’s brilliant in The Girl Next Door. Completely steals the movie at some points. And of course Luc Besson really knows what he’s doing when it comes to producing action movies. Maybe this will work out for the best.