Mark Strong is in negotiations to play the suave secret agent brother of Sacha Baron Cohen in Sony’s spy action comedy “Grimsby.”
Louis Leterrier is directing the pic, which follows a British Black Ops agent who is forced to go on the run with his long-lost brother, an English soccer hooligan.
Baron Cohen will produce through his Four by Two banner along with Eric Fellner of Working Title and Nira Park of Big Talk Productions.
The pic was originally set up at Paramount, where Baron Cohen and Phil Johnston sold the film as a pitch, but moved to Sony in February. Plan is to have the film in production by this summer with a U.S. release scheduled for July 31, 2015.
Baron Cohen, Phil Johnston and Peter Baynham co-wrote the script.
Strong is currently on stage at London’s Young Vic in “A View From the Bridge” and can be seen next on-screen in the Weinstein’s “The Imitation Game” starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
He is repped by CAA Markham Froggatt & Irwin in the UK.
