Wanted is a 2008 action thriller film directed by Timur Bekmambetov and written by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Chris Morgan, loosely based on the comic book miniseries by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones. The film stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, and Common. The story of Wanted revolves around Wesley Allan Gibson, who decides to join the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins, after learning that his father was a member of the Fraternity. Universal Pictures acquired the adaptation rights from Millar in 2004, and while the eventual script drifted from the comic book superhero mythos in the original miniseries, he was content to see most of the comic's darker content retained. Production began in April 2008, with filming in the Czech Republic, Budapest, and the story's main setting, Chicago. Bekmambetov's production company, Bazelevs Production, provided the majority of the film's visual effects. Danny Elfman scored the film, employing a guitar-based musical score.
