[5] The film stars Michael Fassbender alongside Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton in supporting roles.

Development on the graphic novel adaptation began in 2007 at Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment, with Fincher signed on as director and Alessandro Camon as screenwriter.

While waiting for the target, he eats, practices yoga, listens to music (exclusively the Smiths), and talks on the phone with his handler, Edward "Eddie" Hodges, who is an attorney and his former university law professor.

After receiving the names at her home, The Killer breaks his rule not to show empathy; he snaps her neck and shoves her down a flight of stairs, making her death look like an accident, as she had requested.

The Killer travels to Chicago, to kill billionaire venture capitalist Henderson "Clay" Claybourne, reflecting during his flight that police take more interest in the deaths of rich people.

Claybourne says that he has no personal problem with The Killer and, as a first-time client of a hitman, agreed to pay Hodges for "the trail to be scrubbed", not knowing what that meant.

In November 2007, it was reported that David Fincher would be directing an adaptation of the Matz French comic book The Killer, with Allesandro Camon writing the script, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment producing, and Paramount Pictures distributing.

[7] By February 2021, Fincher had taken the project to Netflix, where he had signed an overall deal, with Andrew Kevin Walker now writing the script and Michael Fassbender circling the lead role.

It moved again to Chicago in February 2022,[11] and then to St. Charles, Illinois (doubling for the city of Beacon, New York), in March 2022 for ten days, wrapping up later that month.

The website's consensus reads: "The Killer finds director David Fincher on firm footing with a stylish and engaging thriller that proves a perfect match for leading man Michael Fassbender.

[20] Terming it a "horribly addictive samurai procedural," Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that the film is "entertainingly absurd and yet the pure conviction and deadpan focus that Fassbender and Fincher bring to this ballet of anonymous professionalism makes it very enjoyable.

"The character is boring and so is this movie, but like the supremely skilled Fincher, who can't help but make images that hold your gaze even as your mind wanders, Fassbender does keep you watching.