A week ahead of its worldwide release, an invitation-only screening of the movie "American Assassin" is scheduled for Friday in the Twin Cities with its leading star on tap to attend.

The movie starring Michael Keaton and Dylan O'Brien is built around a terrorist-fighting hero created by Twin Cities novelist Vince Flynn, who died in 2013 from cancer. Flynn's series of 14 bestselling spy thrillers all made the New York Times bestseller list.

The screening will be held at AMC Rosedale in Rosedale Center, with actor Dylan O'Brien and producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura on hand and fielding questions from the news media. Also attending will be Flynn's wife, Lysa Flynn.

The movie's release is scheduled for a week later.

Keaton portrays Cold War veteran Stan Hurley, who trains CIA black-ops recruit Mitch Rapp, played by O'Brien of "The Maze Runner" fame. The two are dispatched on a mission to stop an operative from starting World War III in the Middle East. Taylor Kitsch, whose credits include "X-Men Origins" and "Wolverine," is a villainous operative in the movie.

Flynn, who grew up in St. Paul and graduated from St. Thomas Academy and the University of St. Thomas, died after a 2½-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 47.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482