Paramount+ Removes 87% RT Neo-Noir Thriller From ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Creator

Before he broke out as one of the most acclaimed showrunners of his generation with the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, Scott Frank had already created a well-received limited series for the streamer, the Western drama Godless. It didn’t break out into the mainstream, perhaps because it debuted a few years before the new wave of interest in Westerns spurred on by Taylor Sheridan‘s work. But Godless remains one of the best-received shows that Netflix has released. Before that, Frank was best known as the Oscar-nominated writer of Steven Soderbergh‘s Out of Sight, and for being one of the industry’s busiest script doctors. Over the years, he performed uncredited work on projects such as Saving Private Ryan and Gravity before going on to earn his second Oscar nomination for co-writing Logan.

Frank made his directorial debut with a neo-noir movie that originally had Sam Mendes attached to helm. Mendes had broken out with American Beauty, and was eyeing the neo-noir as his sophomore feature; he left to direct Road to Perdition instead. Frank recruited Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the lead role of an amnesiac former athlete who unwittingly becomes involved in a bank heist. The cast also included Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher, and Matthew Goode.

Here’s Your New Neo-Noir Obsession

The movie in question is The Lookout, which was released in 2007, two years after Gordon-Levitt broke out with the fellow neo-noir movie Brick, directed by Rian Johnson. The Lookout wasn’t exactly a box-office hit, grossing a little more than $5 million against a reported budget of $16 million. However, it received critical acclaim, and is now sitting at a “Certified Fresh” 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The website’s consensus reads, “The Lookout is a genuinely suspenseful and affecting noir due to the great ensemble cast and their complex, realistic characters.” Frank went on to direct another neo-noir, A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson and released in 2013. In addition to Godless and The Queen’s Gambit, he has also created the mystery series Dept. Q for Netflix; the show is set to return for a second season after premiering last year. Frank also co-created the AMC neo-noir series Monsieur Spade, starring Clive Owen as an older version of Dashiell Hammett‘s famous gumshoe. The Lookout recently left Paramount+, but is available to stream on the platform via Apple TV, Prime Video, and Hulu. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.