‘The Gray Man’ First Look: Chris Evans Is a Suave Psychopath Hunting Assassin Ryan Gosling
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Chris Evans shared the first look at Netflix’s action-thriller “The Gray Man,” giving fans a taste of his villainous assassin character, Lloyd Hansen, opposite Ryan Gosling’s protagonist.
“The Russo brothers knocked this one out of the park!” Evans captioned an Instagram photo of himself holding a gun, dressed in all black, at what seems to be a disco-inspired location. Evans also sports a dark mustache and Army-style haircut while he goes up against Gosling in a “fight to the death,” as director-producer Joe Russo teased.
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Based on a 2009 novel by author Mark Greaney, “The Gray Man” centers on a deadly duel between killers as freelance assassin Gentry (Gosling) is hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort of Gentry’s at the CIA.
The official logline continues, “When the CIA’s top asset — his identity known to no one — uncovers agency secrets, he triggers a global hunt by assassins set loose by his ex-colleague.”
The film will premiere in theaters on July 15, following by a Netflix streaming debut on July 22. The movie is being set up as a new Netflix “James Bond-level” action franchise for Gosling, who is expected to play Gentry in follow-up sequels.
“The Gray Man” has already broken records at the streamer with a budget upwards of $200 million, making it the most expensive Netflix original movie to date. The Russo Brothers direct and produce the film, and Joe Russo penned the original script before “Avengers” screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely updated it.
The Russo Brothers’ AGBO production company was also behind the biggest Netflix original film debut to date, “Extraction,” starring Marvel alum Chris Hemsworth.
Fellow MCU titan Evans has collaborated with the Russo Brothers across the “Captain America” and “Avengers” franchises. His “Knives Out” co-star Ana de Armas also stars in “The Gray Man” as a CIA operative, along with Billy Bob Thornton, “Bridgerton” breakout Regé-Jean Page, and “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” scene-stealer Julia Butters.
Yet the “electric” chemistry between the lead stars Gosling and Evans is what roots the action movie, as Joe Russo told Variety.
“It’s also been a long time since we’ve seen a movie like this,” Russo said. “We have two big movie stars going against each other to the tradition of like [Robert] De Niro and [Al] Pacino in ‘Heat.’ This is an intense action film.”
“The Gray Man” will premiere in theaters on July 15 and on Netflix July 22.
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