The Gray Man director, Joe Russo, compares Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans’ chemistry in the movie to Al Pacino and Robert De Niro’s from Heat. The 1995 film written and directed by Michael Mann follows a veteran LAPD detective (Pacino) tasked with tracking down a career criminal (De Niro) as the two engage in a game of cat-and-mouse, while different facets of their personal lives are also explored. Today, it is regarded as one of the best crime thrillers of all time, and its inspiration can be seen in various other works, including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
The Russo brothers’ upcoming spy-thriller will explore a similar dynamic to Heat. Gosling stars as the film’s main protagonist, Court Gentry, a.k.a. the Gray Man, a veteran CIA operative who is blacklisted by his agency and forced to become a fugitive while his former cohort, Lloyd Hansen (Evans), is tasked with extraditing him. The Gray Man reunites the Avengers: Endgame directors with their frequent MCU collaborators, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who wrote the film’s script based on Mark Greaney’s novel of the same name.
During his appearance at the red carpet event prior to Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s premiere, The Gray Man co-director, Joe Russo, provided a few updates regarding his and his brother Anthony’s upcoming project (via Digital Spy). He then went on to praise Gosling and Evans’ “fantastic” and “electric” chemistry in the film, comparing it to that of Pacino and De Niro’s from Heat. Read what Russo had to say below:
It’s fantastic, it’s electric. It’s also been a long time since we’ve seen a movie like this. We have two big movie stars going against each other to the tradition of like De Niro and Pacino in Heat. This is an intense action film. Very, very entertaining performances from both actors, and they’re absolutely pitted against each other in the movie. And it’s a deliciously sociopathic turn for Chris Evans as the villain. He does [make a good sociopath], it’s quite entertaining. So I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
During the interview, the Russo brother also provided a release window for The Gray Man, saying it will debut on Netflix sometime in the Summer of 2022. While Russo chose to highlight the chemistry between the two lead stars, the project has put its reported $200 million budget to good use by assembling an impressive ensemble cast around them. Its call sheet also includes Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Regé-Jean Page, and Billy Bob Thornton.
The Gray Man was already highly anticipated as the Russos’ first film with Evans post-Endgame, although it will see the Captain America actor take a villainous turn. The director comparing his and Gosling’s performances to Pacino and De Niro’s in such a respected film in the genre like Heat will only serve to increase expectations for The Gray Man. Whether or not it can deliver on the hype will be revealed next Summer.
