The Cannes Film Festival is fast approaching and that means we’ll be getting lots of news about projects being sold to distributors there.
One such project is High Wire Act, a political action thriller from director Brad Anderson and writer Tony Gilroy, which THR reports has nabbed Mad Men’s Jon Hamm as the lead.
The film is set in 1980s Beirut and follows a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service to save a former colleague from the group possibly responsible for his own family’s death. Hamm’s obvious charisma and talent for making you listen deeply to whatever he’s saying (just watch one of Mad Men’s highlight episodes “The Wheel” to see exactly why) should make him perfect for this sort of diplomatic role.
Anderson is a diverse director, having made the likes of The Machinist with Christian Bale, the underrated horror Session 9 and most recently Stonehearst Asylum. Gilroy is a veteran of cinematic political intrigue, having co-written the Bourne films, Michael Clayton and State of Play. They had this to say about their new project:
I’m thrilled the way the project’s come together,” Gilroy said. “Jon Hamm was made to play the part. I’ve been trying to work with Brad Anderson from the moment I saw Transsiberian, and every conversation we have confirms my confidence. I can’t wait to see a script that means so much to me get up and running.
“Tony may have been channeling John le Carré when he wrote this,” Anderson added, “and as such it has many of the themes I love that make those stories so great — the political intrigue, the betrayals, the morally compromised characters, the reluctant heroes. And it’s set in a world — war-torn Beirut — that’s seldom depicted on screen.
More on High Wire Act as news comes out.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter