Chris Evans' villainous role in Netflix's 'The Gray Man' teased by Russo Brothers

The Russo Brothers are teasing Chris Evans’ villain role in their upcoming big-budget spy thriller for Netflix titled The Gray Man. Talk of the Russo Brothers adapting Mark Greaney's 2009 novel of the same name began all the way back in 2014 when the Russos' were fresh off making Captain America: The Winter Soldier and were still relatively unknown directors. For their highly anticipated next project, The Gray Man, Anthony and Joe Russo will be returning to Netflix, who is reportedly putting up $200 million to fund the spy thriller, making it the streaming service’s most expensive feature film in its history. 

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Chris Evans character teased by The Gray Man directors

Recently on the Lights Camera Barstool podcast, the Russo Brothers talked briefly about their upcoming film, and how it is a “modern interpretation of a spy thriller” inspired by the Bond franchise. They also touted The Gray Man as “a big pop culture film infused with modern thematics and politics.” Joe Russo also spoke specifically about the role Chris Evans will play as a villain. "He’s a really unique character, and this is Evans as a villain so it’s a really interesting character and I think he’s going to get to flex quite a bit in this role," said Joe Russo. 

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The Gray Man cast also includes Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas, with Gosling playing the lead role, Court Gentry, a former CIA operative turned assassin. The Gray Man plot will centre around the conflict between Gentry and Evan's villain, Lloyd Hansen, with Hansen being Gentry's former CIA colleague.  This conflict is set to play out on a massive global scale. Production was originally set to begin in 2020, but it was delayed due to COVID-19 and filming is now aiming to commence in March 2021. Netflix is reportedly putting up $200 million to fund the project, making it the streamer's biggest budgeted feature film to date, surpassing Martin Scorsese's 2019 film The Irishman ($169 million).

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More trivia about The Russo Brothers films

Director duo Anthony and Joe Russo are best known for directing four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:  Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Avengers: Endgame grossed over $2.798 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation), breaking the 10-year-old record of James Cameron's Avatar (2009) with $2.790 billion. The brothers have also worked as directors and/or producers on the comedy series Arrested Development (2003–2005), Community (2009–2014), and Happy Endings (2011–2012). They won a Primetime Emmy Award for Arrested Development. Their other film credits include writing and producing the Chris Hemsworth action thriller Extraction (2020) and directing and producing Tom Holland's upcoming film Cherry, scheduled to release on Apple TV+ on March 12, 2021.

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