Gerard Butler to Star in FBI Thriller 'The Bricklayer,' Based on the Novel by Noah Boyd (Exclusive)

Millennium Films has acquired the rights to The Bricklayer, the best-selling novel by former FBI agent Noah Boyd, and attached Gerard Butler to star as a rogue former agent who’s called in to help battle a criminal group that is demanding an escalating series of multi-million dollar ransom payments.

It’s the first project to be assembled by Mark Gill since he stepped into the role of Millenium president in June, and he’ll oversee it along with Boaz Davidson, head of development and creative affairs, and head of production John Thompson.

Hanna Weg (Enigma) is adapting the novel for the screen. Butler, Alan Siegel and Danielle Robinson are producing, with Erik Lindsay and Weg serving as executive producers.

The Bricklayer was published by William Morrow in January, 2010. Boyd is actually a pseudonym used by former FBI agent Paul Lindsay. In the book, his main character, Steve Vail, is a former FBI agent, working as a Chicago bricklayer, whom the agency reaches out to help track down and combat the criminal gang. The plot also involves a female deputy director at the FBI who is assigned to work with Vail – a part that that has not yet been cast.

Butler, repped by CAA and Alan Siegel Entertainment, will next be seen in Coriolanus and Machine Gun Preacher, both of which are playing the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

Boyd is repped by ICM, while Weg is repped by UTA.