Harry Houdini: Action Star?

I'm not sure I get this, but Summit will make a film out of the biography The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero. I get why any studio would want to approach a Harry Houdini project. After all, he was one of the biggest celebrities of his day and a mysterious one at that, one whose death is as legendary as his life. However, this won't be a bio-pic of a man who could really use one. Instead, the studio will spin Houdini as "part Indiana Jones and part Sherlock Holmes," according to The Hollywood Reporter, which also indicates that a franchise could be in the works. ??? Again, why take a guy who had a fascinating life and create stuff for him to do? Secondarily, if you want an action thriller franchise, why not just change the character's name so it's not Harry Houdini. Why no just make Franklin Delano Roosevelt fight Nazi aggression from his jet pack-powered wheelchair or make Charles Lindbergh into a Prohibition-era Jason Bourne? It would seem to me that there are two movies here, the Houdini biography and the globetrotting action movie, but I can't say I'm diggin' the mash-up.

Comments

[Eating Butter]

Kinda looked like Bill O Reilly, didn't he?

[Get The Big Picture]

And O'Reilly should be an action hero, come to think of it.