Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling are set to star in a spy thriller helmed by Avengers: Endgame directors, the Russo Brothers. The Russo Brothers have got their next project in the works with Netflix, as a new report from Deadline reveals the duo will direct Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling in The Gray Man for the streaming service, based on the book of the same name by Mark Geaney. Joe Russo’s script for the film was also tightened up by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The pair will go head-to-head as Gosling’s former CIA agent is pursued by Chris Evans. Anthony Russo revealed more about the upcoming project by saying the film will be influenced by the Russo Brothers’ espionage thriller in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The Winter Soldier due to its real-world setting.
“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. 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.”
The plan for the Russo Brothers’ new film is to create a brand new franchise with Ryan Gosling at the heart of it as a freelance assassin named Court Gentry, who will be hunted by Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen in the first film. Netflix has committed to a budget of more than $200 million, so hopefully, the stunts will be something special. With production beginning in January 2021, Joe Russo explained more about the dynamic between Gosling and Evans’ characters in the spy thriller.
“The intention is for it to be competitive with any theatrical and the ability to do 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 character 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.”
