By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Kevin James ("The King of Queens," "The Zookeeper," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop") has jumped aboard the Netflix train with his original action comedy "True Memoirs of an International Assassin."
The film, set to debut sometime later this year on the streaming service, was shot partially in Atlanta starting last November and is wrapping next week in the Dominican Republic.
Here's how Netflix describes the movie:
A mild-mannered would-be author gets mistaken for a killer-for-hire when his fictional novel about an international assassin is published as a true story. The book is a huge success and he is suddenly kidnapped and taken to Venezuela and forced into an assassination plot. The film will premiere on the streaming service in 2016.
James likes to play characters that go against type. For instance, he was the President of the United States in "Pixels" last year.
Netflix isn't just into the business of creating original TV series, comedies and documentaries but is also now into full-fledged films.
Last year, James' pal Adam Sandler signed a deal to release four films with Netflix. His first was a Western spoof "The Ridiculous Six," released in December, which received an unceremonious but unsurprising 0% on RottenTomatoes compilation of 29 reviews. Netflix's more well-regarded drama "Beasts of No Nation" (91% on RottenTomatoes) came out in October. And it's set to release a sequel to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
How well do Netflix films do? Can't say because Netflix doesn't release such data for any of its programming.
Netflix is also working in Atlanta with a science fiction drama called "Stranger Things" starring Winona Ryder.
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