Move over, 007. Sierra Six is in town.
Netflix has bet on leading man Ryan Gosling to successfully launch a spy film franchise, starting with its latest action-thriller The Gray Man.
READ ALSO: How Much Is Cruise Taking Home: Top Gun Maverick Has Made Over $1 Billion In The Global Box Office
Meanwhile, Anthony and Joe Russo, best known for Avengers: Endgame, have signed on to direct.
Powerhouse cast
Anthony told Netflix that casting is critical in any project.
“As heightened as the characters are, you want actors that are going to bring some truthfulness to it. We couldn’t be more fortunate to work with the cast that we got on this one, and it’s important because it’s a dense world filled with a lot of unique characters. We needed a cast at this level to pull off the vision for the world we were creating,” Anthony said.
The brothers said that Gosling’s approach to performance is quite similar to the titular Gray Man’s way of life.
“Gosling’s a master of minimalism and subtlety. He knows how to convey a very complex inner life by doing very little as an actor. But he’s also charismatic at the same time,” Anthony said.
Joe added that Gosling “took to it like a fish to water.”
“He’s in incredible shape for this movie. And he understood that what it is that you do with your body in an action film informs who you are as a character. It’s like a cave painting in a lot of ways. He’s scar-covered and chiseled,” Joe said.
Chris Evans also joins the cast as the mercenary hunting Gosling’s character.
“Chris is an amazing actor. He became very well known and iconic for his performance as Captain America, but he can do remarkable things as an actor in very different styles, very different tones. You’ll see that in this movie for sure,” Anthony said.
The director duo asked both actors to train “very hard” for their roles. This required them to be in peak physical shape to execute stunts.
Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Wagner Moura, Julia Butters, and Alfre Woodard round up the rest of the cast.
First love never dies
The film is based on the first book in the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney.
“When a shadowy CIA agent uncovers damning agency secrets, he’s hunted across the globe by a sociopathic rogue operative who’s put a bounty on his head,” reads its official synopsis.
The Gray Man will premiere on Netflix on July 22.
Gosling told Reuters that he has always wanted to make an action movie.
“Action was my first love. It made me fall in love with movies in the first place. It took a minute to get there and find the right one,” Gosling said.
Banner Photo by Paul Abell via Netflix
