Producer Rick Alexander (Land of Zametherea) and  manager/producer Jeff Krelitz have acquired the rights to two comic book properties created by Matt Fraction, according to Entertainment Weekly.  According to EW, a “major A-list actor” is interested in Casanova, the saga of a thief-turned-spy published by Image Comics.  Krelitz and Alexander are hoping to turn Casanova into a James Bond-like spy franchise, with a different actor playing the master spy each time out.  The producers plan to hire a screenwriter for Casanova as soon as a director and lead actor have been signed.

As for Last of the Independents, which was published in graphic novel form by AIT/PlanetLar—newcomer Alex Litvak has been hired to write a screenplay based on the bank heist caper comic, that owes more than a little to Don Siegel’s vastly underrated 1973 cult masterpiece, Charley Varrick.