The Gray Man is a 2022 American action thriller film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay the latter co-wrote with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Mark Greaney. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Regé-Jean Page, Wagner Moura, Julia Butters, Dhanush, Alfre Woodard, and Billy Bob Thornton. Produced by the Russo brothers' company, AGBO, the film is intended to start a franchise based upon Greaney's Gray Man novels.
The Gray Man began a limited theatrical release on July 15, 2022 followed by its digital release on Netflix on July 22. It received mixed reviews from critics with praise for the ensemble cast, but criticism toward the "clichéd script and breakneck pacing."
Senior CIA official Donald Fitzroy visits a convicted murderer in prison. He offers the murderer his freedom in exchange for working as an assassin in the CIA's Sierra program. The murderer agrees and takes on the codename of Sierra Six.
Eighteen years later, on a mission in Bangkok, Six is ordered to assassinate a target suspected of selling off national security secrets, working with fellow CIA agent Dani Miranda. However, he is unable to do so stealthily without harming civilians and so attacks the target directly, mortally wounding him. Before dying, the target reveals that he worked in the Sierra program as Sierra Four, and hands him an encrypted drive detailing the corruption of rising star CIA official Denny Carmichael, who is also 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, leading to Six choosing to refuse evacuation from Bangkok with Carmichael's men.
Six sends the drive to former Sierra Program handler Margaret Cahill in Prague and requests extraction from a now-retired Fitzroy. Carmichael hires mercenary Lloyd Hansen, a former CIA agent kicked out of the agency for his sociopathic tendencies, to track down Six and retrieve the drive. Hansen does so by kidnapping Fitzroy's niece Claire, in order to force Fitzroy to authorise 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 Fitzroy and Claire hostage in a mansion in Croatia, where he has also based his operations centre. Hansen additionally puts a bounty on Six's head to attract the world's best mercenaries and assassins to hunt him down. Six heads to Vienna to receive new documents, but his contact Laszlo Sosa betrays him for the bounty. Six escapes just as Hansen arrives with his team, and is subsequently rescued but taken captive by Miranda, whose reputation is in tatters following the Bangkok mission. Six convinces her to drive him to see Cahill, where she is able to decrypt the drive and discover 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, leading the terminally ill Cahill to sacrifice herself to give Six and Miranda the opportunity to escape after a further shootout in the streets of Vienna. The two take refuge in a hospital where the mercenary "Lone Wolf" steals the drive from them and brings it to Hansen. Six and Miranda track down Claire through the wireless signal broadcast from her pacemaker. With Miranda creating a distraction, 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. Lone Wolf defeats Miranda in a fight but decides to give her the drive anyway, 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. After a standoff, Hansen lets go of Claire and fights with Six. However, 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 coverup, where ultimately no action is taken against Carmichael. However, Six escapes custody and frees Claire from where she is being held at a secret location. The two escape whilst Carmichael and Brewer are left dumbfounded as to how Six was able to get away.
Casting
- Ryan Gosling as "Sierra Six", a CIA black ops assassin who is forced to go on the run after uncovering incriminating secrets about the agency.
- Cameron Crovetti as Young Six
- Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen, a psychopathic former CIA agent who is contracted by Carmichael to capture Six
- Ana de Armas as Dani Miranda, a CIA agent who allies with Six.
- Jessica Henwick as Suzanne Brewer
- Regé-Jean Page as Denny Carmichael
- Wagner Moura as Laszlo Sosa
- Julia Butters as Claire Fitzroy
- Dhanush as "Lone Wolf"
- Alfre Woodard as Margaret Cahill
- Billy Bob Thornton as Donald Fitzroy
- Callan Mulvey as "Sierra Four"
- DeObia Oparei as Dulin
- Robert Kazinsky as Perini
- Shea Whigham as Six's Father
- Eme Ikwuakor as Barnes
The project was first set up at New Regency, with James Gray set to direct a screenplay written by Adam Cozad in January 2011. Brad Pitt was initially cast to star, but by October 2015 he and Gray were no longer involved with the film. Charlize Theron entered talks to star in a genderswapped version of the film at Sony Pictures, with Anthony and Joe Russo writing the screenplay.
No further development was announced until July 2020, when the Russo brothers were announced to direct the film, from a screenplay by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, with additional material written by Anna Gregory, Charles Leavitt, Rhett Reese, Joe Schrapnel, and Paul Wernick, for Netflix, with the intention to spawn a franchise. Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans were cast to star in the film. In December, Dhanush, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Wagner Moura, and Julia Butters were added to the cast. Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfre Woodard, Eme Ikwuakor, and Scott Haze joined the cast in March 2021. An April article about shooting in Prague had Michael Gandolfini included in the cast. In May 2021, DeObia Oparei joined the cast of the film.
Filming was to commence on January 18, 2021, in Long Beach, California, 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 Prague, Czech Republic, the Château de Chantilly in France and Croatia. Filming in Prague took place from June 27, 2021. Filming wrapped on July 31, 2021.
