David Fincher is set to team up with Michael Fassbender for The Killer, an assassin drama that has proved to be something of a passion project for the Se7en director.

Fincher has been linked to the assassin drama, an adaptation of the French graphic novel, since talks first emerged at Paramount in 2007.

The Hollywood Reporter now reports that Netflix will pick up the long-gestating project – which will see Fincher reuniting with Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker.

The film, which is set to start shooting in September, will see Fassbender star as a ruthless assassin who begins to develop a conscience and question his role – even when his clients continue to demand his bloodthirsty work.

The original graphic novel is described as a “hardboiled noir” and was written by Alexis Nolent and artist Luc Jacamon.

The latest project from Fincher comes after it was revealed that he is working on a new miniseries based around ‘cancel culture’.

“It’s about how modern society measures an apology,” he said last year. “If you give a truly heartfelt apology and no one believes it, did you even apologise at all? It’s a troubling idea but we live in troubling times.”

He is also an early frontrunner for the 2021 awards season with Mank, his biopic of Citizen Kane scribe Herman J. Mankiewicz.

In a five-star review of the movie, NME wrote: “Fincher’s latest is a sophisticated drama that’s worth taking the time to get your head around. It’s about power and regret, alcoholism and wasted talent, movies and love. It’s also one of the best films of 2020.”