Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) has announced it is to co-produce a spy thriller starring Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Topher Grace.
ADMC, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, will produce ‘The Double’ alongside Hyde Park Entertainment Group, through its Imagenation arm. Imagenation was launched in September 2008 to produce films, television shows, documentaries, and other media.
According to a press statement, the story kicks off with the mysterious murder of a Senator in Washington DC bearing the distinguished marks of a Soviet assassin, code-named Cassius, who was long thought to be dead.
To hunt down the killer, a retired CIA operative (Gere), who spent his career going toe-to-toe with his Soviet nemeses, is teamed with a young FBI agent (Grace).
ADMC said that Michael Brandt will make his directorial debut on the project. Brandt and his writing partner, Derek Haas, penned the script. The pair has previously been credited with the script for the Angelina Jolie-starring comic-book actioner ‘Wanted’, as well as the Russell Crowe western ‘3.10 To Yuma’
“‘The Double’ is a commercially viable film with high-caliber talent and writers,” said ADMC CEO Edward Borgerding. “We are elated to have Richard and Topher aboard to bring this intense and elevated spy thriller to audiences around the world.”
Hyde Park Entertainment and Imagenation first partnered in November 2008 on a $250m financing deal to develop, produce and distribute up to 20 feature films over seven years, with additional financing for the production of local language and cross-cultural films.
In October 2009, they extended their partnership to create a strategic alliance with Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA). Under the deal, Hyde Park Imagenation Singapore was launched to fund three to four films a year worth an estimated production value of $75m over the next five years.
