Austin Butler (Elvis) will star in City on Fire, a film adaptation of Don Winslow's 2022 novel from Sony 3000 Pictures. Deadline reported that the project marks Butler's first film as producer, alongside David Heyman and Shane Salerno, and the "studio has made this a high priority and will be meeting with writers and filmmakers immediately." Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing for the studio. City on Fire is the first installment in a trilogy that will include City of Dreams, to be released April 18 by HarperCollins.
"We are elated that venerable producer David Heyman, alongside Austin Butler, will join forces with Shane Salerno to make Don Winslow's spectacular trilogy, starting with City on Fire," said Gabler. "Don is an iconic novelist and a true master of the genre of suspenseful crime fiction and has created one of the most memorable modern-day heroes in Danny Ryan, the complex and compelling protagonist of this trilogy. It is a dream come true to envision Austin, with his uniquely brilliant and charismatic talent, bringing this character and story to cinematic life."
Winslow added: "Like so many people around the world, I was amazed by Austin Butler's Oscar-nominated performance in Elvis. I've had a number of conversations with Austin about this trilogy that I've been working on for almost 30 years of my life, and I have been deeply impressed by his commitment to playing Danny Ryan as well as his passion to also produce the three films with David and Shane and Elizabeth and Marisa."