Joe and Anthony Russo are currently developing the story for CAPTAIN AMERICA 3 for Marvel, but the directors now also have a new project lined up over at Sony Pictures. Variety has learned the Russo brothers will write and direct an adaptation of the Mark Greaney novel The Gray Man for the studio. The film will be produced by Joe Roth and Palak Patel, and Roth says he hopes the adaptation will be the start of a new movie franchise.
“We think this could be the next ‘Bourne Identity’ movie series. The Russo brothers are the most dynamic filmmakers working today.”
Joe Roth also says they'll start looking for a male lead once the Russo brothers finish the script for THE GRAY MAN.
Mark Greaney's thriller is the first in a four-part book series (with the other three being Dead Eye, Ballistic, and On Target), and Sony has optioned the other novels in the series as well. The original novel follows a CIA spy turned assassin on the run and trying to save the lives of his daughters, who by the why, don't even know he exists.
Joe Russo on The Gray Man:
“We found the material to be very compelling and ultra realistic and has a great character at the heart of it. We are most interested in stories that are entrenched in the most modern elements that go on today and we think this book does an amazing job at explaining that.“
THE GRAY MAN sounds like a great project for the Russo Brothers, and it will be interesting to see how they handle a spy thriller that isn't set in a comic book movie universe.
The Russo brothers' CAPTAIN AMERICA 3 is set to hit theaters on May 6, 2016.