Marvel directors Joe and Anthony Russo are announced to be directing The Gray Man at Netflix which will star their Captain America actor Chris Evans, as well as Ryan Gosling.
The project marks their first directing gig since they helmed The Avengers: Endgame for Marvel Studios.
The script is by Joe Russo, and the Russos also asked their The Avengers: Endgame, Infinity War, Civil War, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, to polish the script.
The Russos’ AGBO production company is also producing.
The flick is based on the 2009 Mark Greaney novel of the same name that features ten books in total that introduced the Gray Man, a freelance assassin and former CIA operative named Court Gentry.
Deadline notes that the action-thriller is a deadly duel between killers as Gentry (Gosling) is hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort of Gentry’s at the CIA, and Ryan Gosling is expected to continue on in multiple installments.
It’s further noted the intention with The Gray Man is to create a new franchise with a James Bond-level of scale and a budget upward of $200 million, which is Netflix’s largest commitment to a budget to date.
Russos reteam with Captain America actor Chris Evans
Anthony Russo made mention that those who liked Captain America: The Winter Soldier will welcome The Gray Man.
“The movie is a real mano a mano between those two great actors who represent two different versions of the CIA, in what it can be, and what it can do,” Anthony Russo said. “For those who were fans of Captain America: Winter Soldier, this is us moving into that territory in more of a real-world setting. That’s what this movie really means for us.”
Joe Russo added about the scale of the film: “The intention is for it to be competitive with any theatrical, and the ability to do with with Gosling and Evans is a dream for us. The idea is to create a franchise and build out a whole universe, with Ryan at the center of it. We have all committed to the first movie, and that’s got to be great to get us to the second movie. These are master assassins, and Gosling’s characters gets burned by the CIA and Evans’ character has to hunt him down. We have a great working relationship with Netflix, and we go back almost 20 years with Scott Stuber. We formed AGBO to be an agnostic storytelling company, where we figure out the best platform. We think Netflix is the perfect place for this film.”
The Gray Scale looks to start filming in January in Los Angeles with international locations being finalized.
(via Deadline)
