Brett Ratner has picked up the rights to Charles Robert Jenkins' 2008 memoir The Reluctant Communist, which he is hoping to also direct. According to Variety, Ross Katz is adapting the book, which was written by Charles Robert Jenkins and Jim Frederick, with Rat Entertainment's John Cheng producing.

In 1965, Charles Robert Jenkins surrendered to the North Koreans while drunk, undergoing a 40-year prison term that was quite strange. John Cheng states, "He was forced to act in (propaganda) movies as an American bad guy, and he became kind of a celebrity. People would come up to him on the street, because they recognized him from the films."

Brett Ratner is hoping to set the film up at a major studio soon, though no actors have been attached to the project at this time. Ratner is currently deep into pre-production on the Ben Stiller caper Tower Heist, which he will direct before production beings on The Reluctant Communist.