Nathanson hired for 'Houdini' action film

Indiana Jones writer Jeff Nathanson has been hired to script and direct Summit Entertainment's action-orientated Harry Houdini film, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on William Kalush and Larry Sloman's 2006 book The Secret Life Of Houdini: The Making Of America's First Superhero, the movie will suggest that the legendary escapologist was a spy for the British and advised Czar Nicholas II in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Summit is using the upcoming Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes flick as inspiration for its revisionist take on Houdini's life.

Nathanson previously directed 2004's The Last Shot and worked on the screenplays for Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal.