If Vince Vaughn thought he was on to a sure thing – and a chance to show some dramatic action chops – with comic book adaptation Term Life, his plans have been roundly thwarted by Universal, which has abruptly cancelled the film.
Vaughn had been in the process of setting the film up with Couples Retreat director Peter Billingsley set to call the shots and Hailee Steinfeld on to co-star.
The script was adapted from A.J. Lieberman’s Image Comics title, which follows Nick Barrow, who plans heists and comes up with tricks for career criminals. Unfortunately for him, he’s managed to annoy just about everyone, especially when one of the most recent crimes he helped plan goes bad. With mob bosses, corrupt cops and hit men on his trail, Nick decides he wants to finally do something good and takes out a big life insurance policy out on himself, payable to his estranged daughter. There’s just one small hitch: it takes 21 days to take effect, and he’ll be lucky to live 21 hours…
It would seem the film fell victim to the twin vagaries of executive shifts at the studio and failing to gather enough momentum to nab that all-important greenlight. What happens now is anyone’s guess: Deadline’s story doesn’t mention whether Vaughn has the power to shop it around and find the project a new home…