Producers Moritz Borman and Peter Graves have acquired film rights for Jon Land's action thriller novel The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending from Las Vegas entrepreneur Fabrizio Boccardi's King Midas World Entertainment.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the novel was published last month by Tom Doherty Associates' Forge imprint, and centers on a Las Vegas casino owner, Michael "The Tyrant" Tiranno, the adopted son of an Italian crime lord who is called upon to defend the gambling mecca from terrorist attacks.
Land has said that the character is loosely inspired by Boccardi's life story and is designed as the first of a series of James Bond-like adventure tales. Graves said the thriller's protagonist "is not your normal lead; he's a little off-center, a little unusual."
Moritz added, "It's the kind of book that lends itself to a franchise."
Once they assemble more elements, they plan to approach a studio.
The globe-trotting novel takes its title from a fictional casino/hotel called the Seven Sins. Boccardi said he plans to build a resort of the same name in Vegas. "My company has spent millions of dollars developing the plans," he said. "In another year or two, we intend to pull the trigger."
No production date has been set.