After reporting that screenwriter Eric Singer (The International) would be adapting the Ubisoft game Splinter Cell for the big screen, word has come out that none other than Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) is attached to star. Hardy will play special operative Sam Fisher, the character who kicked off the video game franchise that will release its seventh installment next spring. The project is not yet set up at a studio, but Ubisoft has talked to Warner Bros. and Paramount. Moving forward, Ubisoft presumably looks to retain a majority of control over creative development as has become characteristic of the company since its Prince of Persia feature adaptation. Hit the jump for more.

We recently saw some major movement on the feature film adaptation of the video game series Splinter Cell as Warner Bros. and Paramount were both competing for the rights to produce the adaptation, and now it looks like things are moving right along as a screenwriter has been tapped to pen the screenplay for the feature film.  We’ve learned that Eric Singer, who penned director Tom Tykwer’s 2009 thriller The International starring Clive Owen, has been tapped by Ubisoft to get to work on the script for the film iteration of Splinter Cell.

For those unfamiliar, the Splinter Cell video game series follows the adventures of a covert operative named Sam Fisher.  There have been six games in the series thus far, with the seventh set for release next spring.  Hit the jump to watch the trailer for the upcoming Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

Warner Bros. and Paramount are competing for the rights to developing a film based off the popular video game series Splinter Cell.  According to Deadline, the studios are in talks with video game developer Ubisoft, which means that the movie will be based off the games rather than the Tom Clancy novels that inspired the series.  Paramount is reportedly the frontrunner to acquire the property, which follow the adventures of covert operative Sam Fisher and his cool night vision goggles.  There have been six games thus far with the seventh in the series, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, having recently been revealed at this year’s E3.  Because video game adaptations tend to be terrible, Ubisoft is determined to have more control over the property (they’re also taking the same approach with the adaptation of Assassin’s Creed).  At least they learned a lesson from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

If Paramount picks up Splinter Cell, they will be even deeper in the Tom Clancy business.  The studio is still trying to develop a reboot of the Jack Ryan franchise with Chris Pine as the new handsome-desk-jockey-hero with Kenneth Branagh set to direct.  Paramount is also developing an adaptation of the spinoff novel Without Remorse, which features the far more interesting character John Clark (previously played by Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber).  Hit the jump to see the trailer for Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

From Top Gun, Total Recall, Starships Troopers, Free Willy, and many more, Michael Ironside always seems to find an audience no matter what role he accepts. Now, he plays Chief Bannen, a police chief with a mobster brother and con artist son, in the new web series The Bannen Way over at Crackle.com from Sony Pictures. Seemingly being on top of the New Media game, I also spoke to him about his decision to reprise his role as Sam Fisher in the popular Splinter Cell video game series, with the 5^th installment ready to land in stores in late April 2010, and also got him to divulge about his childhood love of Superman and how it helped lead him to voiceover work as one of the Man of Steel’s most nefarious enemies, Darkseid.

Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview: