Joe and Anthony Russo aren’t afraid of a problem. After hitting massive with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the brothers sprang straight into 2016’s even greater follow-up, Captain America: Civil Struggle. They went greater but once more for Avengers: Infinity Struggle, earlier than going about as massive as you’ll be able to presumably get with Infinity Saga climax Avengers: Endgame. However whereas their upcoming action-thriller The Grey Man is in some ways smaller, a return to the grittier, grounded stakes of their first Marvel film (“We wished to make use of The Winter Soldier as a springboard into one thing else action-oriented,” says Joe Russo), its creation nonetheless proved punishing. “This film nearly killed us,” Joe Russo laughs. “There are, like, 9 motion sequences, and it’s so relentless in that regard. It was relentless to make.”
Tailored from Mark Greaney’s novel by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who penned the entire Russos’ Marvel movies) and Joe Russo himself, The Grey Man is a setpiece-packed cat-and-mouse spy thriller. On this case, the mouse is Ryan Gosling’s Courtland Gentry (aka Sierra Six), a CIA mercenary who’s working for his life after uncovering data that places him within the crosshairs; the cat is Chris Evans’ gleefully sadistic sociopath Lloyd Hansen, employed to hunt Six down and planning to benefit from the process way over any right-minded particular person ought to. It’s a streamlined story with loads of potential for explosive motion, all stemming from a battle of wills between its two central forces. “We’re very character-oriented, Joe and I,” says Anthony Russo. “We begin all of our exploration of motion by means of character. How can we take a look at who this character is? How can we lure them within the worst doable place, like within the airplane sequence. That’s a really susceptible place for that character to be in, and it exhibits you ways vigilant he’s, and the way disciplined he’s.”
Whereas making The Grey Man was no simple feat, the Russos are simply getting began in terms of bringing tales from the world of Sierra Six to the display screen. Early plans are in movement for a follow-up, in addition to potential spin-offs. “We by no means need to jinx it,” says Joe Russo. “However we’re already considering by means of the place it goes from right here. We wish to construct out worlds, and we might quite gamble on the upside and put the power and time in to construct out that universe previous to the discharge, in order that the concepts are extra germane and natural. That’s the way you construct out a extra complicated mosaic narrative.” If all of it involves fruition, the duo can be taking a hands-on strategy to telling extra Grey Man tales. “We’re intimately concerned in all of it,” confirms Joe. “The main focus is to make ‘Grey Man 2’. Our urge for food is voracious and the intention is at all times to do greater than we are able to.” Like we stated: the Russo Brothers aren’t afraid of a problem.
Learn Empire’s full The Grey Man function – speaking to Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, the Russo Brothers and extra in regards to the making of their relentless motion blockbuster – in our upcoming Summer season Preview concern, on sale Thursday 12 Could and out there to pre-order on-line right here. The Grey Man involves UK cinemas from 15 July, and streams on Netflix from 22 July.
