Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans have signed on to co-star in an ambitious spy thriller from Netflix with the biggest budget ascribed to the streamer’s original films so far. According to an exclusive from Deadline , Netflix has delegated a whopping $200 million budget for the film, titled The Gray Man .
The thriller will reunite Evans with Joe and Anthony Russo, who previously worked with the A-List actor on multiple films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Deadline reported that the goal for the film is to create a “new franchise with a James Bond level of scale.”
The Gray Man is based on the novel written by Mark Greaney. The plot revolves around a man named Court Gentry that formerly worked for the CIA before becoming an assassin-for-hire.
The Russo brothers’ company, AGBO, will produce the script written by Joe. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who previously worked with the directing duo starting with Captain America: Civil War , also assisted with the screenwriting process.
Gosling will play Gentry while Evans will portray Lloyd Hansen. Lloyd was a CIA operative alongside Gentry in the past and appears to be taking on the role of the antagonist in The Gray Man . Considering the source material is a bestselling book series, Gosling is expected to stick around for several films, should it perform well.
Given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, production on the project is not likely to start until January.
When speaking about the movie, Joe stated that he wanted the movie to be “competitive with any theatrical.”
Fans of Evans and Gosling could hardly contain their excitement over the two men joining a project together. Social media was filled with excited people discussing their hopes for The Gray Man .
“Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in a movie together and it’s being directed by the Russo Brothers… Damn,” gushed one user.
“Oh this is definitely the best news of my day!! @ChrisEvans directed again by the @Russo_Brothers and starring with #RyanGosling what else can we expect than a big blockbuster? Hell Yeah!!” raved another.
“I’ve read all the ‘Gray Man’ books and have been howling about this franchise to every producer I’ve met with over the last decade. Excited to see it happening. Sure would have loved a bite at the apple. This will be huge,” chimed in a third person.
Evans has been laying low in lockdown but recently made headlines for reaching out to a young boy who jumped in to rescue his sister after a dog attacked her. The 39-year-old actor promised to send him a Captain America shield.