Ben Stiller to direct, star along Cate Blanchett in film adaptation of British series The Champions

Ben Stiller is set to direct and star in a film adaptation of 1960s British series The Champions. Cate Blanchett will also play a major role in the film. 

According to Variety, the feature will honour the espionage series, created by Dennis Spooner, which first aired on UK network ITV. 

The show follows three agents working for a United Nations organisation Nemesis whose plane unexpectedly crashed in the Himalayas. They are rescued by an advanced civilisation living in that area, who also grant them special intellectual and physical abilities. After they return to their homeland, the trio utilises these powers to bring justice and order.

Stiller will also serve as producer via Red Hour Productions, while Blanchett will producer through her company Dirty Films. ITV Studios America and New Republic Pictures will also produce. 

"Champions is a long forgotten gem that will excite a new generation in the same strange and magnificent way that the original series spoke to us," said Blanchett in a statement. 

She said she's excited to work with Stiller, adding that anyone who can make contrasting films like Zoolander and Escape at Dannemora "is a creative force to be reckoned with."

Stiller also said that he looks forward to collaborating with Blanchett, who was last seen in Where'd You Go Bernadette. Her upcoming projects besides this adaptation are Guillermo Del Toro’s movie Nightmare Alley as well as two Netflix projects — Pinocchio and Adam McKay’s directorial Don’t Look Up. She recently wrapped filming Eli Roth’s Borderlands and is currently working on Todd Field's feature Tar.

Meanwhile, Stiller will be seen in Apple TV+ show Severance with Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, John Turturro, and Christopher Walken. His other directorial in the works is Bag Man, and London, starring Oscar Isaac.