James McAvoy currently has several exciting projects in development and he just added another one to the mix. The British actor landed the lead role in a high-concept action thriller Control, which will be helmed by Red director Robert Schwentke.
Control will start filming in Berlin later this summer, and it’s inspired by Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie’s award-winning podcast Shipworm. Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman of The Picture Company are producing this project under their long-term overall deal with Studiocanal, marking the fifth film they shot in the German capital in collaboration with Studio Babelsberg.
Control has been described as “a tense ticking-clock thriller”, and it centers on a doctor who wakes up one morning with an untraceable device planted in his head and must follow mysterious instructions to avoid facing dire consequences. Zack Akers wrote the script, with Andrew Baldwin doing the latest revision.
This role is right in McAvoy’s wheelhouse since he recently appeared in many tense thrillers, including M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Glass. He’s fresh off starring on HBO/BBC series His Dark Materials, and we’ll soon get to see him in the epic film The Book of Clarence and another thriller Speak No Evil.
