We’ve long heard of Lionsgate’s enthusiasm to continue with its Hunger Games franchise beyond the release of this year’s conclusive Mockingjay – Part 2, though a report by Deadline has hinted that there could be a reunion on the cards that doesn’t involve Panem and its 13 districts. After news surfaced a couple of months back that Francis Lawrence was circling Fox’s live-action adaptation of Red Sparrow, the latest tidbit relating to the project has revealed that his leading victor Jennifer Lawrence is being eyed to star.
Lifted from the pages of Jason Matthews’ novel of the same name, the studio’s big-screen take on the author’s spy thriller has been simmering in development for some time, with various directors and stars entering and leaving the project in what soon became one of Hollywood’s revolving doors. In the time that has lapsed since David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky were linked with Red Sparrow, Justin Haythe has been enlisted to rewrite the original script by American Hustle’s Eric Warren.
Situated in contemporary Russia, Red Sparrow is an espionage thriller the revolves around one Dominika Egorova (Lawrence, we presume), a trained seductress who is tasked with keeping her head above water in the intelligence jungle that exists in a post-Soviet era. Such a mission has her operative lock horns with an agent known as Nathaniel Nash, a role yet to be cast.
Still no word on a production start date for Red Sparrow, though with Jennifer Lawrence in contention, it shouldn’t be too long before the wheels get in motion on Fox’s big-screen rendition of Matthews’ spy thriller.
In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.
As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and—inevitably—forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.
