diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 80067daaeb1..6f3b171e90a 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ FILE_COMMON_ARGUMENTS = dict(
 
     # The following are not about perms and should not be in a rewritten file_common_args
     src=dict(),  # Maybe dest or path would be appropriate but src is not
-    follow=dict(type='bool', default=False), # Maybe follow is appropriate because it determines whether to follow symlinks for permission purposes too
+    follow=dict(type='bool', default=False),  # Maybe follow is appropriate because it determines whether to follow symlinks for permission purposes too
     force=dict(type='bool'),
 
     # not taken by the file module, but other action plugins call the file module so this ignores
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py b/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py
index 25d612405ed..7976ac4bb9d 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/files/file.py
@@ -128,12 +128,14 @@ import os
 import shutil
 import time
 
-# import module snippets
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
-from ansible.module_utils.six import b
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes, to_native
 
 
+# There will only be a single AnsibleModule object per module
+module = None
+
+
 def get_state(b_path):
     ''' Find out current state '''
 
@@ -183,34 +185,36 @@ def recursive_set_attributes(module, b_path, follow, file_args):
 
 def main():
 
+    global module
+
     module = AnsibleModule(
         argument_spec=dict(
             state=dict(choices=['file', 'directory', 'link', 'hard', 'touch', 'absent'], default=None),
             path=dict(aliases=['dest', 'name'], required=True, type='path'),
             original_basename=dict(required=False),  # Internal use only, for recursive ops
             recurse=dict(default=False, type='bool'),
-            force=dict(required=False, default=False, type='bool'),
-            follow=dict(required=False, default=True, type='bool'),
-            diff_peek=dict(default=None),  # Internal use only, for internal checks in the action plugins
-            validate=dict(required=False, default=None),  # Internal use only, for template and copy
-            src=dict(required=False, default=None, type='path'),
+            force=dict(required=False, default=False, type='bool'),  # Note: Should not be in file_common_args in future
+            follow=dict(required=False, default=True, type='bool'),  # Note: Different default than file_common_args
+            _diff_peek=dict(default=None),  # Internal use only, for internal checks in the action plugins
+            src=dict(required=False, default=None, type='path'),  # Note: Should not be in file_common_args in future
         ),
         add_file_common_args=True,
         supports_check_mode=True
     )
 
     params = module.params
+
     state = params['state']
     recurse = params['recurse']
     force = params['force']
-    diff_peek = params['diff_peek']
-    src = params['src']
-    b_src = to_bytes(src, errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+    diff_peek = params['_diff_peek']
     follow = params['follow']
 
-    # modify source as we later reload and pass, specially relevant when used by other modules.
+    # modify paths as we later reload and pass, specially relevant when used by other modules.
     path = params['path']
     b_path = to_bytes(path, errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+    src = params['src']
+    b_src = to_bytes(src, errors='surrogate_or_strict', nonstring='passthru')
 
     # short-circuit for diff_peek
     if diff_peek is not None:
@@ -219,16 +223,16 @@ def main():
             f = open(b_path, 'rb')
             head = f.read(8192)
             f.close()
-            if b("\x00") in head:
+            if b"\x00" in head:
                 appears_binary = True
         except:
             pass
         module.exit_json(path=path, changed=False, appears_binary=appears_binary)
 
+    # state should default to file, but since that creates many conflicts,
+    # default state to 'current' when it exists.
     prev_state = get_state(b_path)
 
-    # state should default to file, but since that creates many conflicts,
-    # default to 'current' when it exists.
     if state is None:
         if prev_state != 'absent':
             state = prev_state
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
index c5cacfe36fa..cf77314aa13 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/__init__.py
@@ -937,7 +937,7 @@ class ActionBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
 
         diff = {}
         display.debug("Going to peek to see if file has changed permissions")
-        peek_result = self._execute_module(module_name='file', module_args=dict(path=destination, diff_peek=True), task_vars=task_vars, persist_files=True)
+        peek_result = self._execute_module(module_name='file', module_args=dict(path=destination, _diff_peek=True), task_vars=task_vars, persist_files=True)
 
         if not peek_result.get('failed', False) or peek_result.get('rc', 0) == 0:
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/assemble.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/assemble.py
index 8b69026a76f..f8e95c88116 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/assemble.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/assemble.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
                 raise AnsibleActionFail("src and dest are required")
 
             if boolean(remote_src, strict=False):
-                result.update(self._execute_module(task_vars=task_vars))
+                result.update(self._execute_module(module_name='assemble', task_vars=task_vars))
                 raise _AnsibleActionDone()
             else:
                 try: