Spy movies usually revolve around leading men — hello, Mr. Bond — but Charlize Theron is about to enter the ranks of double-crossers and secret-identity-havers.
Deadline reports that Focus Features has acquired the North American rights to “The Coldest City,” an “elevated spy thriller” starring the Oscar-winning actress. The deal reportedly amounts to nearly eight-figures, and the budget for “The Coldest City” is over $30 million.
Theron, who has demonstrated excellent range throughout her career, from an abused serial killer in “Monster” to a narcissistic alcoholic ghostwriter in “Young Adult,” will play a “super spy” who is forced to pick up the pieces when an underground MI6 officer is murdered shortly before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. To protect her own life — and the greater counter-intelligence community — she must find a list that the fallen officer was trying to smuggle into the West.
The last notable female-led spy movie with a star of Theron’s caliber was 2010’s “Salt,” with Angelina Jolie playing the titular role, though the film was originally written with Tom Cruise in mind. The film grossed nearly $295 million on a budget of $110 million.
Filming for “The Coldest City” is slated to begin this fall in Germany.
Focus recently committed to another promising women-centric movie, “On the Basis of Sex,” a biopic of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg starring Natalie Portman.
You can next see Theron get into ass-kicking mode in “Mad Max: Fury Road” — which is getting excellent reviews — on May 15.
[via Deadline]
