Director Pierre Morel is looking to helm yet another action-thriller.  Heat Vision reports that the Taken director is in talks to direct the thriller adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s novel Prone Gunman.  Penned by Peter Travis (Dredd), the film will star Sean Penn as an international operative who is betrayed by his organization and led on a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe.  Joel Silver is producing, and the pic is being set up as a potential action franchise for the Oscar-winning Penn.

Production is looking to begin this spring in several European locations.  Morel has experience in turning veteran actors into action stars, as Taken launched Liam Neeson into a career that’s now full of action thrillers.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis of the novel.

Oscar-winner Sean Penn has played many roles: a gay rights activist in Milk, a no-nonsense crime boss in the upcoming Gangster Squad and even a glam rocker-turned-Nazi hunter in This Must Be the Place. But action star? It looks like that may be the next challenge for Penn to tackle as he’s negotiating to star in Prone Gunman, an action-thriller adaptation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s novel. The French crime story centers on Martin Terrier, an international operative who is betrayed by his organization and is led on a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe. If Penn takes the job, a potential action franchise might also be in the works. Hit the jump for more.