Who’s tough enough to take on Dwayne Johnson on the big screen? According to a story today at Deadline, the answer is none other than “The Wire” and Gone Baby Gone star Amy Ryan! New Line Cinema has set the Academy Award nominee for the female lead in the upcoming buddy action-comedy Central Intelligence. Johnson is headlining the feature opposite Kevin Hart (The Wedding Ringer, Get Hard). Ed Helms, Danielle Nicolet and Bobby Brown are also set to co-star.
Hart is playing a former high school sports star turned accountant who, on the eve of a class reunion, is contacted by a former classmate (Johnson) who used to be a bullied “loser,” but who is now a contract killer for the CIA and who wants Hart’s character’s help to foil a plot to sell classified military secrets. Ryan will play another CIA operative tasked with bringing Johnson’s character in.
Scott Stuber (Ted, Identity Thief) will produce Central Intelligence through his Bluegrass Films banner, along with Peter Principato and Paul Young of Principato-Young Entertainment. Helms, who worked with Thurber on We’re the Millers, is executive producing. Ike Barinholtz and Dave Stassen wrote the original script, with Sean Anders and John Morris penning a subsequent draft and Thurber taking another pass on the latest script.
The other day, Hart shared an early behind-the-scenes picture from the set of the film on his Instagram account.
