Fresh off a breakout turn in “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and wrapping “Star Trek Beyond,” actress Sofia Boutella is nearing a deal to join Charlize Theron and James McAvoy in Focus Features’ spy thriller “The Coldest City,” TheWrap has learned.
David Leitch (“John Wick”) will direct from a script by Kurt Johnstad (“300”), who adapted the Oni Press graphic novel by Antony Johnston.
“Coldest City” follows an underground MI6 officer who is killed just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Theron will play a spy who must find a list of spies that he was smuggling into the West to protect herself and the counter-intelligence community.
Theron is producing through her Denver and Delilah Productions banner along with Oni Press and Sierra Pictures. Production will start Nov. 16 in Budapest before shooting moves to Berlin.
Focus has committed to a wide release of the film, which is budgeted around $30 million.
Boutella was a famous dancer when she was cast as the lethal-legged assassin Gazelle in Matthew Vaughn‘s “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” She parlayed her breakout turn in that blockbuster into a top-secret role in Justin Lin‘s “Star Trek Beyond.” Boutella is also attached to star in the sci-fi movie “The Titan” alongside Sam Worthington and Ruth Wilson.
Boutella is represented by CAA, 42 and Felker Toczek.