The writers and directors of Avengers: Endgame are currently working on a thriller for Netflix entitled The Gray Man, which has Netflix’s biggest budget yet at over $200 million, with Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling starring.
The Russo brothers, Joe and Anthony, who helmed several Marvel Studios films with Evans, will direct. Joe Russo wrote the script with Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely polishing it up.
The Gray Man is based on a series of best sellers from Mark Greaney. The film will star Gosling as Court Gentry, an ex-CIA operative now freelance assassin who’s being hunted by his former CIA colleague, Lloyd Hansen (Evans).
“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 told Deadline.
The Russo’s aim is to create a story that will inspire follow-ups with Gosling’s character. “The idea is to create a franchise and build out a whole universe,” Joe Russo told Deadline. “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.”
There’s no news as to when production will start, but the Russos are hoping to start late fall or early spring, depending on the coronavirus.
