According to Deadline, Joel Edgerton (Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Great Gatsby) is in talks to join Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, X-Men: Apocalypse) in the espionage thriller Red Sparrow, based on the book by Jason Matthews.
In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash (Edgerton), a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole. As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and–inevitably–forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.
Francis Lawrence, who previously directed Jennifer Lawrence in the final three Hunger Games movies, will helm Red Sparrow from a screenplay by Eric Warren (American Hustle) and Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road). Chernin Entertainment is producing with Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch is an executive producer.
Edgerton will next star in the racial drama Loving and the Will Smith/David Ayer fantasy film Bright.
