Mark Strong is in negotiations to join Sacha Baron Cohen in the Sony Pictures action-comedy Grimsby.

The story centers on a British Black Ops secret agent (Mark Strong) who is forced to go on the lam with his long-lost brother (Sacha Baron Cohen), an idiotic soccer hooligan. We reported in February that the project originated at Paramount, where Sacha Baron Cohen and screenwriter Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids, Wreck-It Ralph) sold it as a pitch, before it moved to Sony.

Louis Leterrier is directing from a script by Sacha Baron Cohen, Phil Johnston and Peter Baynham. Sacha Baron Cohen is producing through his Four By Two production company, alongside Working Title's Eric Fellner and Big Talk Productions' Nira Park. Our report from February also revealed that Sony issued a July 31, 2015 release date, with production scheduled to begin sometime this summer.

Mark Strong will next be seen in The Imitation Game and Closer to the Moon.