Netflix has revealed the first look and release date of its hotly anticipated film, The Gray Man. The film is directed by the Russo brothers and stars Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling in the lead roles. A globetrotting spy thriller, The Gray Man is one of Netflix’s most expensive movies, with a reported budget of $200 million, and is intended to launch a James Bond-level franchise. The Gray Man will premiere in theaters on July 15, 2022, before streaming on Netflix on July 22.
The first look images from The Gray Man have been released by Netflix and feature a mustached Chris Evans, along with an equally stylish Ryan Gosling. Regé-Jean Page and Ana de Armas are also featured. You can check out the images below.
The plot synopsis for The Gray Man reads: "When Court Gentry (Gosling), the CIA's most skilled mercenary whose true identity is known to none, accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a psychopathic former colleague, puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins."
In an exciting turn of events, Chris Evans will again be playing an antagonist in The Gray Man after delivering a wonderfully devious performance in Knives Out. Joe Russo talked to Entertainment Weekly about Evans’ decision to play a villain after being the flagbearer of freedom and justice in the MCU for a decade.
"It's hard to find somebody at Chris Evans' level to step into a villain. It's why you traditionally don't get a Ryan Gosling versus Chris Evans movie. But he's at a point where [playing the villain] is more entertaining to him than playing a hero, so we're able to get two giant movie stars that face off against each other. They're very complicated characters with competing agendas, and it's a fight to the death."
The directors have previously compared the dynamic between Evans and Gosling's characters to those of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat.
Netflix Hopes to Launch Major Spy Thriller Franchise With The Gray Man
With Netflix’s dwindling finances, a lot is riding on the success of The Gray Man. The film is supposed to spawn a new franchise for the company that is expected to give James Bond a run for his money. And with an incredibly talented cast and crew, The Gray Man certainly has the potential to do it.
"The intention is for it to be competitive with any theatrical and the ability to do with with Gosling and Evans is a dream for us," Joe Russo told Deadline in 2020. "The idea is to create a franchise and build out a whole universe, with Ryan at the center of it. We have all committed to the first movie and that's got to be great to get us to the second movie."
The Gray Man is based on Mark Greaney’s acclaimed novel series of the same name and is adapted by Avengers: Endgame scribes Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, and Joe Russo. The film stars several A-listers alongside Evans and Gosling, including Ana de Armas, Rege-Jean Page, Jessica Henwick, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, Wagner Moura, Dhanush, and Scott Haze. Be sure to check out The Gray Man in whatever medium you please-theatrical or streaming only this summer.
Hopefully, this mega-budget venture of Netflix won’t disappoint like some of the streamer’s recent films.