Paramount Finds Its 'Deadliest Warrior' Scribes

Paramount Pictures has set the writing team of John D. Payne and Patrick McKay to script The Deadliest Warrior, a feature based on the Spike TV series. Shawn Levy and Dan Levine set it up at Paramount last fall through Levy’s 21 Laps banner. They’ll produce and Levy, who just completed the Hugh Jackman-starrer Real Steel, is eyeing the film as a possible directing vehicle. Payne and McKay most recently sold their spec Goliath to Relativity Media, with Scott Derrickson in talks to direct a retelling of the David Vs. Goliath underdog story. Entering its third season, The Deadliest Warrior pits history’s greatest warriors against one another in fights to the finish to see which fighting style and weaponry prevails. Paramount and Spike TV are sister companies. UTA and Kaplan/Perrone rep the writers.