The Coldest City, Antony Johnston and Sam Hart’s graphic novel about the dangerous world of espionage, has been simmering on the back-burner ever since Charlize Theron swooped in to acquire screen rights a few years ago. That’s hardly surprising, given the actress’ busy, busy schedule, but we’re now only a few months away from welcoming Johnston and Hart’s Cold War thriller onto the big screen, and it’s got a new name to boot: Atomic Blonde.
Headed up choreographer-turned-director David Leitch (John Wick, Deadpool 2), Atomic Blonde places Theron in the boots of Agent Lorraine Broughton, a best-in-class secret agent and the crown jewel of Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service. Dispatched on a top-secret mission to Berlin circa 1989 – just prior to the historic moment when the wall came tumbling down – Theron’s operative is chasing a high-priority target: a dossier containing the identities of all secret agents, including her own.
What follows is an engrossing game of espionage, and up above you’ll see that Leitch hasn’t lost his knack for mesmerizing fight sequences and arresting cinematography. In fact, the opening segment of today’s red band trailer is a single-take fight scene that takes place on a staircase, lending Theron the chance to flaunt her action skills. And if that wasn’t enough to get you interested, we don’t know what will.
In anticipation of the film’s August release, Charlize Theron stated recently that she’s overly confident the character of Lorraine Broughton will resonate with moviegoers come August.
“I hadn’t seen another character like her out there,” Theron tells EW. “She doesn’t apologize for anything. We made her strong and feisty. She’s cheeky. These were all things I responded to.”
High praise from an actress who also played the hardboiled Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road. Couple this with the inclusion of David Leitch, who knows a thing or two about choreographing intense action sequences after turning John Wick into a household name, and it’s small wonder why Atomic Blonde has generated some much excitement this early on in development.
Also starring John Goodman, Toby Jones, McAvoy, The Mummy‘s Sofia Boutella and Eddie Marsan, Atomic Blonde is booked in for a world premiere at next week’s SXSW 2017 film festival. WGTC will have boots on the ground in Austin, Texas, so expect our coverage to start hitting the site throughout the course of next week.
