Bridgerton hunk’s new spy thriller has Bond in its sights
WATCH out, 007! A megabucks new spy franchise is about to launch. Starring one-time Bond girl Ana de Armas, plus Bridgerton’s break-out British star Rege-Jean Page, hotly fancied as the next Bond himself, The Gray Man is a £180 million movie which drops on Netflix next Friday.
It’s been made by the Russo brothers, Joe and Anthony, who were behind Marvel blockbusters including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame — so nobody is more successful at creating huge action films.
Actor Chris Evans, best known as Captain America in the Marvel films, is the baddie and sports questionable knitwear (again, after Knives Out!) and a terrible moustache. He plays a cat and mouse game with a CIA mercenary played by Ryan Gosling.
The possibilities for a sequel and other spin-offs are being actively considered, as the feeling is this spy thriller has serious, Bond-type legs.
Joe Russo said: ‘We’re already thinking through where it goes from here. We like to build out worlds.’
He added: ‘The focus is to make Gray Man 2. Our appetite is voracious and the intention is always to do more than we can.’
Rege-Jean Page, who plays CIA boss Denny Carmichael, said: ‘It’s a global travel adventure, but with spies, explosions, guns, falling out of airplanes . . . there’s nothing that isn’t in this movie.’
Gosling, who plays the Gray Man, also known as Sierra Six, said: ‘I’m really excited for audiences to see this film because, personally, it’s the kind of film that I would have loved, growing up. It’s the kind of film that made me want to make movies.’
Actor Evans agreed it was ‘a fun set’. ‘I love the Russos!’ he said. ‘They set the tone and they really know how to put a good team together. It’s tough to call it a job... that’s how good it felt.’
Bond boss Barbara Broccoli says it will take ‘years’ to cast another James Bond after Daniel Craig’s final outing as the spy in No Time To Die.
The 25th Bond film was finally released last year. It went into development in 2016 and into production in 2019, but the opening was delayed due to Covid.
BROCCOlI is in no hurry to make Bond 26, saying earlier this month: ‘We’re working out where to go with him. There isn’t a script and we can’t come up with one until we decide how we’re going to approach the next film because, really, it’s a reinvention of Bond. I’d say filming is at least two years away.’
Some have speculated that the strains of placing Ian Fleming’s spy into a modern environment may lead to a ‘retro cycle’ of Bond films, set during the Cold War, to come next.
Meanwhile the Bond franchise is dipping its toe into television. An eight-part game show called 007’s Road To A Million has been ordered by Prime Video. Two-person teams will undertake Bond-themed endurance and intelligence challenges.