Jon Hamm has signed on to star in Tony Gilroy‘s political thriller “High Wire Act,” production company Radar Pictures announced on Wednesday.
Brad Anderson (“The Machinist”) is directing the film in which Hamm (“Mad Men”) will play a former U.S. diplomat who is called back into service in the 1980s to save a former colleague from the group possibly responsible for his own family’s death.
Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”), who wrote the screenplay, is producing with Ted Field and Mike Weber. Good Universe is handling international sales.
“I’m thrilled the way the project’s come together,” Gilroy said in a statement. “Jon Hamm was made to play the part. I’ve been trying to work with Brad Anderson from the moment I saw ‘Transsiberian’ and every conversation we have confirms my confidence. I can’t wait to see a script that means so much to me get up and running.”
Anderson added: “Tony may have been channeling John le Carré when he wrote this, and 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.”
Gilroy and Hamm are represented by CAA. Anderson is represented by WME and LBI Entertainment.