''The Gray Man'' is a 2022 American

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Anthony and Joe Russo Anthony Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo brothers (), are American directors, producers, and screenwriters. They direct most of their work together. They are best known for dir ...

, from a screenplay the latter co-wrote with

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely Christopher Markus (born January 2, 1970) and Stephen McFeely (born February 24, 1970) are American screenwriters and producers. McFeely and Markus were the second and the third most successful screenwriters of all time in terms of U.S. box offic ...

, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by

Mark Greaney Mark Greaney (born 23 June 1980) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish musician. He is best known as the singer and guitarist in the alternative rock band JJ72, which he frontman, fronted from 1996 until 2006. He was later the frontman of Concerto f ...

. The film stars

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...

, Chris Evans,

Ana de Armas Ana Celia de Armas Caso (; born 30 April 1988) is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She began her career in Cuba and had a leading role in the romantic drama '' Una rosa de Francia'' (2006). At age 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in t ...

Jessica Henwick Jessica Yu-Li Henwick (born 30 August 1992) is a BAFTA nominated English actress, writer and director. She is known for her roles as Nymeria Sand in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' (2015–2017), X-wing pilot Jessika Pava in the film '' Sta ...

Regé-Jean Page Regé-Jean Page (; born Regererai Page on 27 April 1988) is a British actor. He is known for his breakout role in the first series of the Netflix period drama ''Bridgerton'' (2020). Acting professionally since 2001, Page has also appeared in B ...

Wagner Moura Wagner Maniçoba de Moura (; born 27 June 1976) is a Brazilian actor, director, filmmaker, musician, and journalist. Wagner started his career doing theater in Salvador, where he worked with renowned directors, and soon scored some appearances ...

Julia Butters Julia Butters (born April 15, 2009) is an American teenage actress. She received critical acclaim for her role as Trudi Fraser in Quentin Tarantino's ''Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'' and as Reggie Fabelman in Steven Spielberg's ''The Fabelmans'' ...

Dhanush Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Starring in 46 films over his career, among hi ...

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...

, and

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

. Produced by the Russo brothers' company,

AGBO AGBO (also known as Gozie AGBO) is an independent film and television production company led by Anthony and Joe Russo, best known for their work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most notably '' Avengers: Infinity War'' and '' Avengers: Endgame ...

, it is the first film in a franchise based upon Greaney's ''Gray Man'' novels. The plot centers on

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

agent "Sierra Six", who is on the run from sociopathic ex-CIA agent and

mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

Lloyd Hansen upon discovering corrupt secrets about his superior. An adaptation of Greaney's novel was originally announced in 2011, with

James Gray James, Jim, or Jimmy Gray may refer to: Politicians * James Gray (Australian politician) (1820–1889), member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly * James Gray (British politician) (born 1954), British politician * James Gray (mayor) (1862–1916 ...

set to direct

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

, and later

Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...

in a gender-swapped role, though neither version ever came to fruition. The property lingered in

development hell Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game engi ...

until July 2020, when it was announced the Russo brothers would direct, with both Gosling and Evans attached to star. Filming took place in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

between March and July 2021. With a production budget of $200 million, it is among the most expensive films made by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. ''The Gray Man'' began a limited

theatrical release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public. Film A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in theat ...

on July 15, 2022 followed by its digital release on

on July 22. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

and action sequences, but criticism toward the "clichéd script and breakneck pacing." The film is being followed by a sequel, with Gosling reprising his role, as well as a spin-off.

Plot

In 2003, senior

official Donald Fitzroy visits a prisoner named Courtland Gentry in Florida. Eight years earlier, Gentry was a minor convicted of killing his abusive father to protect his brother. Fitzroy offers him his freedom in exchange for working as an assassin in the CIA's ''Sierra'' program. In 2021, Gentry, now known as ''Sierra Six'', is working with fellow CIA agent Dani Miranda to assassinate a target suspected of selling off

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

secrets in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

during the national

Songkran Songkran is a term derived from the Sanskrit word, ' (or, more specifically, ') and used to refer to the traditional New Year celebrated in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, parts of northeast India, parts of Vietnam and ...

festival. He is unable to do so stealthily without harming civilians and attacks the target directly, mortally wounding him. Before dying, the target reveals that he worked in the Sierra program as Sierra Four, and hands Six an encrypted drive detailing the corruption of CIA official Denny Carmichael, who is the lead agent on the assassination mission. Carmichael is elusive about the true purpose of the mission and the contents of the drive when confronted by Six, and Six refuses evacuation from Bangkok with Carmichael's men. He sends the drive to former Sierra Program handler Margaret Cahill in Prague, and calls a now-retired Fitzroy to request extraction. Carmichael hires

Lloyd Hansen, an ex-CIA agent kicked out of the agency for his

sociopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...

ic tendencies, to track down Six and retrieve the drive. Hansen does so by kidnapping Fitzroy's niece Claire, forcing Fitzroy to authorize Six's murder by the extraction team. However, Six kills them and escapes. Frustrated, Carmichael sends his subordinate Suzanne Brewer to oversee Hansen and keep him in line. Hansen keeps Claire hostage in a mansion in Croatia, where he has based his operations. Hansen also puts a

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

on Six's head to attract mercenaries and assassins to hunt him down. Six heads to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to find Claire's pacemaker's serial number from Laszlo Sosa, but Sosa betrays him for the bounty. Six escapes just as Hansen arrives with his team, and is rescued by Miranda. Miranda's reputation is in tatters following the Bangkok mission and she initially plans to bring him in to salvage her career at the CIA. Six convinces her to drive him to Cahill's apartment in Prague, where she decrypts the drive, which reveals the extent of Carmichael's corruption on behalf of a mysterious benefactor working for a shadow government. Hansen sends several teams of assassins to Cahill's home, and the terminally ill Cahill blows up her home to give Six and Miranda a chance to escape. Six is arrested and handcuffed in the square. A shootout in the streets of Prague follows killing all the police present and Six escapes on a tram. A long chase and gun battle ensues, and Six is saved by Miranda, in Cahill's bulletproof car. The two infiltrate a hospital to track down Claire through the wireless signal broadcast from her pacemaker. The mercenary "Lone Wolf" steals the drive from them, knocking them out, and brings the drive to Hansen. Six and Miranda follow the pacemaker to Hansen's base. Miranda creates a distraction while Six infiltrates the mansion and rescues Fitzroy and Claire. Fitzroy is mortally wounded as they flee and sacrifices himself in a failed attempt to kill Hansen. Miranda knocks out Hansen's men, but Lone Wolf narrowly escapes. He defeats Miranda in a fight but gives her the drive, having become disgusted with Hansen's willingness to kill children and his lack of morals. Hansen manages to take Claire hostage and drags her into a

hedge maze A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. History Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe, and were first constructed during the mi ...

. After a standoff, Hansen lets go of Claire and fights with Six. Before Six can kill him, Hansen is shot and killed by Brewer, who tells Six that she plans to pin Carmichael's actions on Hansen in order to gain leverage over him. Furthermore, Brewer pledges Claire's safety but only if Six continues to work for the CIA. Six and Miranda are forced to co-operate in the cover-up, where ultimately no action is taken against Carmichael. After the debriefing at the CIA headquarters, Miranda threatens to kill Carmichael if any harm comes to Claire. Six escapes custody and frees Claire, who is being held at a secret location.

Cast

In addition,

Callan Mulvey Callan Mulvey (born 23 February 1975) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his roles as Mark Moran on the Australian drama ''Underbelly'', Sergeant Brendan 'Josh' Joshua in '' Rush'', and as Bogdan 'Draz' Drazic in ''Heartbreak High''. ...

appears as Dining Car ( Four) at the start of the film, setting the plot in motion.

Production

Development

The project was first set up at

New Regency Regency Enterprises (commonly referred to as Regency onscreen and copyrighting as Regency Entertainment (USA), Inc. in the U.S. and Monarchy Enterprises S.á.r.l. overseas) is an American entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was foun ...

, with

set to direct a screenplay written by

Adam Cozad Adam Cozad is an American screenwriter best known for writing the scripts for '' Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit'', '' The Legend of Tarzan'', and '' Underwater''. Life and career Cozad was born and grew up in Chico, California, where he attended Not ...

in January 2011.

was initially cast to star, but by October 2015 he and Gray were no longer involved with the film.

entered talks to star in a gender-swapped version of the film at

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

, with

writing the screenplay.

Casting

No further development was announced until July 2020, when the Russo brothers were announced to direct the film, from a screenplay by Joe Russo,

, with additional material written by Anna Gregory,

Charles Leavitt Charles Leavitt (born 1956) is an American screenwriter best known for writing the 2006 film ''Blood Diamond''. Life and career Leavitt's screenwriting career began in 1996 when he wrote ''Sunchaser''. He wrote the screen adaptation of the Rod ...

Rhett Reese Rhett Reese is an American film producer, television producer, and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, his early credits included ''Clifford's Really Big Movie'' and ''Cruel Intentions 3''. He has collaborated with Paul Wernick, writing the films ' ...

, Joe Schrapnel, and

Paul Wernick Paul Wernick is a Canadian television/movie screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing the screenplays to the 2016 superhero film ''Deadpool'' and its 2018 sequel with his creative partner Rhett Reese. Career Early career Wernick h ...

, for

, with the intention to spawn a franchise.

and Chris Evans were cast to star in the film. In December,

and

were added to the cast.

Eme Ikwuakor Eme Ikwuakor ( ; born August 13, 1984) is an Nigerian-American actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Ink'' (2009), ''On My Block'' (2018), and Gorgon in ''Inhumans'' (2017). Biography Eme Ikwuakor was born to Patricia and Killian Ikwuakor a ...

, and

Scott Haze Scott Haze (born June 28, 1983) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for his role in the 2013 film, ''Child of God'', where he played the role of Lester Ballard, sleeping in a cave for months and losing 45 pounds for his role in the adaptat ...

joined the cast in March 2021. An April article about shooting in

had

Michael Gandolfini Michael Gandolfini (born May 10, 1999) is an American actor. Gandolfini made his film debut in ''Ocean's 8'' (2018) and appeared in ''The Many Saints of Newark'' (2021), in which he played the role of Tony Soprano, which was originally portrayed ...

included in the cast. In May 2021,

DeObia Oparei DeObia Oparei (born 7 December 1971) is a British actor and playwright. He is best known for his roles as the Gunner in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'' (2011), Rongo in ''Dumbo'' (2019), and as Boastful Loki in ''Loki'' (2021). ...

joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Filming was to commence on January 18, 2021, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, but was pushed back to March 1. Page wrapped his role within the first month of shooting. It filmed in Europe in the spring, with locations including

, Czech Republic, the

Château de Chantilly The Château de Chantilly () is a historic French château located in the town of Chantilly, Oise, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Paris. The site comprises two attached buildings: the Petit Château built around 1560 for Anne de Montmor ...

in France, Croatia and as well as in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. Filming in Prague took place from June 27, 2021. Filming wrapped on July 31, 2021.

Music

The film's score was composed by

Henry Jackman Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...

, who previously collaborated with the Russos on several of their films. Jackman began writing the score in December 2021, beginning with a 17-minute-long suite.

Release

''The Gray Man'' began a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on July 15, 2022, followed by its release on

on July 22. Though Netflix does not report theatrical grosses for its titles, distribution insiders estimated the film made around $200,000 from about 400 theaters in its opening weekend.

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

estimated the film made $300,000–375,000 over its first full week of theatrical release.

Reception

Viewership

Netflix reported the film was streamed for a total of 88.55 million hours over its first three days, which would equal around 43.55 million viewers. It was the most-watched film in 84 countries. By September the film had totaled 253.8 million hours viewed.

Critical response

Accolades

The film was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature at the 21st Visual Effects Society Awards.

Future

Sequel

Scott Stuber Scott Stuber (born December 13, 1968) is an American film producer and head of original films at Netflix. Career After graduating from University of Arizona with a film degree, Stuber worked at Universal Pictures as a publicity assistant to Lew ...

, head of original films on

, expressed his interest in future ''Gray Man'' films, saying: "We're excited to continue to partner with

the Russo brothers Anthony Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo brothers (), are American directors, producers, and screenwriters. They direct most of their work together. They are best known for dir ...

and the team at AGBO as they build out ''The Gray Man'' universe." After the film's debut weekend, a sequel was announced with Gosling and the Russo brothers returning to their respective roles.

Spin-off

A spin-off film, which will explore a different element of ''The Gray Man'' universe, will be written by

and

. Russo Brothers stated that they are considering to make a spin-off film about Dhanush's character Avik San (The Lone Wolf).

References

Links

* on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray Man (2022 film), The The Gray Man 2020s chase films 2020s English-language films 2022 action thriller films American action thriller films American chase films English-language Netflix original films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films about the Central Intelligence Agency Films about terrorism in Europe Films based on American thriller novels Films directed by Anthony and Joe Russo Films produced by Joe Roth Films scored by Henry Jackman Films set in 2003 Films set in 2021 Films shot in France Films set in Bangkok Films set in Baku Films set in Berlin Films set in Croatia Films set in Hong Kong Films set in Langley, Virginia Films set in London Films set in Monaco Films set in Prague Films set in Turkey Films set in Vienna Films set in Virginia Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Los Angeles County, California Films shot in Prague Films shot in Croatia Films with screenplays by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely 2020s American films Techno-thriller films