Clive Owen joins Gemini Man, female lead down to Winstead, Maslany, Debicki

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

After twenty years in development hell, the sci-fi action thriller GEMINI MAN is finally moving forward with Ang Lee at the helm (Tony Scott, Curtis Hanson, and Joe Carnahan were among the directors previously in the running to direct the project) and Will Smith set to play a dual role in the lead. (In years past, actors considered for the lead included Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Chris O'Donnell, Mel Gibson, and Clint Eastwood.)

Smith will be playing Henry, 

an aging assassin who finds himself in a battle with the ultimate opponent: his clone, who is 25 years younger and at the peak of his abilities.

David Benioff, Jonathan Hensleigh, and Brian Helgeland are some of the writers who have worked on the screenplay over the years. The idea originated as a pitch from Darren Lemke.

With the project heading toward a February production start date, Lee is starting to assemble the supporting cast around Smith, and the first actor to be announced is SHOOT 'EM UP star Clive Owen, who is in talks to play the head of the cloning program, one of the villains of the film alongside the younger version of Smith's character.

Lee is also looking for an actress to play the female lead, a character named Danny who "works for the same company as Henry and is tasked to surveil him." There are currently three actresses in the running for the role: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2's Elizabeth Debicki, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (FINAL DESTINATION 3, GRINDHOUSE, the BLACK CHRISTMAS remake), and Tatiana Maslany (GINGER SNAPS 2, DIARY OF THE DEAD, Orphan Black). Winstead and Maslany are known to be testing for the film.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Paramount and Skydance, GEMINI MAN will be shooting in locations around the globe, including Savannah, Georgia and Budapest, Hungary.

This sounds like a really cool project to me, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out after kicking around Hollywood for so long.