Mark Wahlberg to Produce Hacker Movie at Universal (Exclusive)

Call it a password-protected project.

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Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson have set up an untitled hacker film at Universal Pictures that is loosely based on a recent GQ article titled "The Hacker Is Watching."

Jonathan Herman, who most recently wrote an update of the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds for Universal, will write the screenplay, which centers on an anonymous, ruthless, highly skilled hacker who targets the student body of a large suburban high school. David Kushner penned the true story, which ran in GQ's January 2012 issue.

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Wahlberg and Levinson, whose recent producing collaborations span film and television and include the HBO hits Boardwalk Empire and Entourage, will produce the youth-driven thriller.

The untitled hacker project strengthens the pair's ties with the studio. They also recently produced the Wahlberg-starring crime thriller Contraband for Universal and are developing a pair of projects for the studio: the action comedy Bait and Switch and thriller The Disciple Program.

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Herman's credits include Conviction, which Silver Pictures is producing at Warner Bros., and Rites of Men, which he sold as an original screenplay to Universal. Both of these scripts were on the Black List. 

Herman is repped by WME, Stephen Crawford of Industry Entertainment and attorney Melissa Rogal of Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman.