Mr. Robot star Rami Malek and the show’s creator and showrunner Sam Esmail are teaming to bring the story of an undercover Muslim FBI agent to the big screen.
Universal has optioned the rights to American Radical, a memoir written by Tamer Elnoury and Kevin Maurer.
Malek will topline the project, while Esmail will direct. The two will also produce along with Chad Hamilton of Anonymous Content.
Executive vp production Mark Sourian and creative executive Lexi Barta will oversee for Universal.
Published in October, American Radical tells the story of Elnoury, a pseudonym for a proud American Muslim who, after years as a police officer, joined a counterterrorism unit after 9/11. The book chronicles the hurdles he faced being a Muslim patriot and also his infiltrating of an al-Qaeda group that had designs on an attack.
The material seems primed for Malek and Esmail, who explore similar thematic ground on their Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series Mr. Robot. The USA Network show, which centers on a cybersecurity hacker, racked with paranoia, who joins an underground anarchist group, will premiere its fourth season later this year.
Malek next stars as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. He also is lending a voice to a character in Universal’s live-action/CG hybrid Dr. Doolittle.
Malek is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment and Sloane, Offer. Esmail is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and McKuin Frankel. WME repped the book deal.
