Brad Pitt to Star in James Gray’s “The Gray Man”

Brad Pitt will star in James Gray’s adaptation of Mark Greaney’s thriller novel The Gray Man, Variety reports. He will take on the role of a former CIA-operative-turned-ultimate-assassin on mission in the Middle East when he learns that the team sent to extract him is actually there to kill him. He soon finds himself fighting special force teams across Europe to save the life of his handler and his handler’s family after they become the targets of a multinational corporation.

The script made last year’s black list and was written by Adam Cozad, who also scripted the Jack Ryan franchise reboot for Paramount with Chris Pine. While the premise seem as generic as they come, Gray plans to give it a big twist by literally shooting the entire movie from the perspective of Pitt’s character.

Pitt is currently busy filming the zombie apocalypse drama World War Z and will next be seen in Moneyball which opens next month.

Here is the Publishers Weekly synopsis for The Gray Man:

In Greaney’s fast-paced, fun debut thriller, Court The Gray Man Gentry, a former CIA operative now renowned as the ultimate killer for hire, is on the job in Syria and Iraq. To his shock, he learns that a team sent in to rescue him now has him targeted for elimination. On the run, Gentry slowly realizes that huge forces are marshaling against him, from his former government to the one man in England he always trusted. With unbelievable powers of survival, the Gray Man eludes teams of killers and deadly traps, while the reader begins to cheer for this unlikely hero. Cinematic battles and escapes fill out the simplistic but satisfying plot, and Greaney deftly provides small details to show Gentry’s human side, offset by the petty rivalries and greed of his enemies.

The Gray Man