By Noted Handsome Man Jon Hamm will follow up his eight-year run on Mad Men (which wraps in just a couple of weeks) with some sensational spy action. The actor is set to star in High Wire Act, a thriller from screenwriter Tony Gilroy (notable for his work on the Bourne franchise) and directed by Brad Anderson, known for The Machininst and The Call.
Hamm will star as an ex-U.S. diplomat called back into service to save a colleague in war-torn Beirut. Set in the 1980s, Anderson says Gilroy’s “may have been channeling [Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy author] John le Carré when he wrote this,” and continues:
…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.
Suffice it to say, this looks like a very exciting project on its face. Gilroy has some decent scripts under his belt – Devil’s Advocate, Michael Clayton, the aforementioned Bourne series (yeah, even the bad one, but nobody’s perfect) – and Anderson’s work on The Machinist has been lauded. He also directed Transsiberian and a bunch of episodes of The Wire, The Shield and Fringe, all of which are pretty rad, so he’s got that going for him. And of course Jon Hamm is a national treasure, a devilishly handsome rogue who can switch from intense drama to absurd comedy at the drop of a hat (my oh my, is it getting warm in here..?). It’s got all the ingredients for a great movie.
[via THR]