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.

Here’s a synopsis for Prone Gunman:

Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game—so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that’s why he took up this profession! But the Organization won’t let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as bodies. [Amazon]