Idris Elba will star in and produce a new spy thriller and romance that has landed at Apple, and he’ll team with “X-Men” creative Simon Kinberg on the film, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Though plot details are being kept under wraps, the film will be in the vein of Kinberg’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” which he wrote back in 2005, and will combine action and romance elements in the spy genre.
Travon Free, a writer on “The Daily Show,” wrote the screenplay, which is part of a script development deal. Elba will produce with Kinberg and Audrey Chon for Genre Films.
This project joins what’s shaping up to be an impressive slate of original titles for Apple, including the Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua thriller “Emancipation” set during the Civil War. Apple also has in partnership with Paramount Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Both Elba and Kinberg have their own first-look deals with Apple, and Kinberg is also working with Apple on an untitled sci-fi series.
Elba will next be seen in “Concrete Cowboy,” directed by Ricky Staub, and will make its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. He’ll also next year be seen in “The Suicide Squad.” Next up he’ll shoot the Netflix Western “The Harder They Fall.”
Kinberg’s Genre Films is also producing “Here Comes the Flood,” which was recently picked up by Netflix and will be directed by Jason Bateman.
Elba is represented by WME, The Artists Partnership and Ziffren Brittenham. Kinberg is represented by CAA.