With a cost of USD 200 million, the brother Joe and Anthony Russo adapted the novel by Mark Greaney, part of a saga that promises a franchise about this CIA special agent. Also starring are Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, and Billy Bob Thornton.

Will it be like the James Bond movies? Like those of the CIA operative Jack Ryan, like those of the amnesiac Jason Bourne? The Gray Man has sparked these and other speculations since Netflix showed the first images in his video to announce the 2022 releases. There Ryan Gosling is seen as Court Gentry, a CIA killer in conflict with an old colleague, Lloyd Hansen, played by Chris Evans, in spectacular action scenes followed by sarcastic dialogue.

The shots show what the USD 200 million budget of the film by the brothers Joe and Anthony Russo has been spent on, the most expensive production to date on the streaming platform, which has even surpassed the USD 160 million record of Red Notice, starring Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. And the display of action and stars leaves the impression that the production company is starting a film franchise. Additionally, The Gray Man is based on a novel by Mark Greaney that is part of a 10-book series.

Not only are the protagonists Gosling (La la land, Blade Runner 2049) and Evans (Free Guy, Between Razors and Secrets), and the directors (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Endgame), but also a good part of the Main cast: Ana de Armas (No time to die), Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton) and Billy Bob Thornton (Goliath).

They are accompanied by Jessica Henwick (Matrix Resurrections), Wagner Moura (Narcos), Alfre Woodard (Luke Cage), Julia Butters (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Eme Ikwuakor (On My Block), and Scott Haze (Child of God).

The path of The Gray Man was not easy until it became one of the most anticipated titles of 2022. It was originally going to be produced by New Regency and directed by James Gray (Ad Astra), with Brad Pitt as the protagonist. But the project fell apart around 2011. Sony Pictures picked it up again in 2015, with a gender change: it would be a CIA special agent, played by Charlize Theron, instead of Pitt’s character. The Russo brothers moved forward with the script but production was once again put on hold.

Netflix brought back The Gray Man in 2020, confirmed the Russos as directors, and added the authors of the Captain America film trilogy, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, as screenwriters. The third time was the charm, and everything indicates that it will be, in turn, the first of a saga.

The Gray Man focuses on Gentry, who uncovers CIA secrets that he would have been better off not knowing for his own health. He becomes a target of international assassins while Hansen goes out looking for him. If the film follows the book, the former intelligence operatives will compete for a similar goal on different stages of Europe.

In late 2021, Joe Russo compared the dynamic between Gosling and Evans to that of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat: “It’s an intense action movie,” he said in an interview. “With very, very entertaining performances from both actors, who are totally at odds over the plot. Chris Evans as the villain brings a deliciously psychotic twist.”

Filming took place over four months of 2021 on location in the Czech Republic and France. Editing, which began in December of that year, requires a lot of visual and sound effects work and is still ongoing. It is expected – but there is no reliable data yet – that the premiere will be in the boreal summer of 2022, towards the middle of the year.