John Wick director Chad Stahelski to produce movie adaptation of controversial comic Calexit

Chad Stahelski is to produce a movie adaptation of the comic Calexit.

The 56-year-old director - who helms the John Wick series - is attached to produce a film version of publisher Black Mask Studios’ controversial 2017 comic, which details a fictionalised Californian resistance.

Calexit - which was written by Matt Pizzolo - is set in a near-future America where the president has signed an executive order to deport all immigrants.

In response, California declares itself a sanctuary state and sparks a fierce struggle against an autocratic regime.

Amid the chaos, the story follows Jamil, a courier and smuggler navigating war-torn zones, and Zora, a rising leader of the Mulholland Resistance, as they fight to escape Occupied Los Angeles - a city locked under martial law.

Calexit proved popular upon its release in 2017, going through seven printings and launching the spin-off comics Calexit: All Systems San Diego, Calexit: Our Last Night in America and Calexit: The Battle of Universal City.

Pizzolo - Black Mask’s co-founder and president - has written the movie’s script, and is also set to produce.

The writer will be producing Calexit alongside Stahelski and his 87Eleven Entertainment cohorts Alex Young and Jason Spitz, while Brett Gurewitz and Brian Giberson of Black Mask also serve as producers.

Stahelski is currently working on his Highlander reboot for Amazon MGM Studios, which will star Henry Cavill as Connor MacLeod - who was previously portrayed by Christopher Lambert in the original fantasy series.

The Ballerina producer previously revealed he managed to convince the Man of Steel star to sign on to Highlander by pitching the project as a martial arts-focused flick that centred around an intense character arc for the Scottish swordsman.

Speaking with The Direct, Stahelski said: “My selling point was, to [Cavill], look, you’ve got a guy that's been alive for over 500 years. He’s the last person in the world that wanted to be in this situation.

“So you get to cover quite a broad spread of a character arc there. And you get to experience someone that’s trained over 500 years and sort of played [with many types of] martial arts.”

The filmmaker added his Highlander movie would be set “beyond present-day New York and Hong Kong”, teasing that it's “a bit of a love story, but not how you think”.

He explained: “We're bringing it forward from the early 1500s in the highlands to the beyond present-day New York and Hong Kong, and seeing how it goes.

“There’s big opportunity for action. There's a chance to play a character that not a lot of people get to play. And it's a bit of a love story, but not how you think. On John Wick, I learned a lot on how to bend the storytelling a little ... another kind of myth.”

The Highlander reboot will also star Russell Crowe as Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez - previously played by Sir Sean Connery - and Industry breakout actress Marisa Abela in a new, unnamed role.

After Abela was announced as the newest cast member for Highlander, she said it was a “real honor to step into such a legacy”, and emphasized she was “looking forward to working with Henry and Russell on something this iconic”.