Benedict Cumberbatch To Lead Cold War Spy Drama Ironbark

Benedict Cumberbatch is a busy guy. As well as appearing in three Marvel movies in the past three years (2019 will make it four) as Doctor Stephen Strange, he’s also keeping himself active with the likes of prestige TV miniseries Patrick Melrose and family animated movie The Grinch. Cumberbatch isn’t stopping there, though, as the latest project for the workaholic British actor has now been revealed and, once again, it’s a very different kettle of fish from the rest of his recent efforts.

As reported by Deadline, the film is titled Ironbark, a Cold War spy drama based on real events. Cumberbatch is set to play Greville Wynne, perhaps the only man in history with a more British name than the actor himself. According to Deadline, Ironbark is inspired by “the true story of the British businessman who helped the CIA penetrate the Soviet nuclear program during the Cold War. Wynne and his Russian source, Oleg Penkovsky (codenamed Ironbark), provided crucial intelligence that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Dominic Cooke is lined up to direct, after previously working with Cumberbatch on The Hollow Crown, a BBC anthology of Shakespearean adaptations in which the actor played Richard III. The Sherlock star, who’s begun dipping his toes into the world of producing in his recent projects, will also serve as an executive producer on Ironbark, as will Cooke and Tom O’Connor.

FilmNation Entertainment – the studio involved with such critically acclaimed hits as Arrival – will finance and handle international sales of the pic and plan to present Ironbark to buyers at next week’s Cannes Film Market. FilmNation previously backed 2014’s Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game, also starring Cumberbatch and the company’s CEO, Glen Basner, released the following statement earlier today:

“We are delighted to be working with Benedict again and to have his abundant creativity on both sides of the camera. Dominic is a master director and he and Benedict’s work together on The Hollow Crown produced breathtaking results. We anticipate a very exciting second collaboration on Ironbark.”

No news yet on when this might materialize, but like we said, we’re certainly not short of Benedict Cumberbatch on our screens right now and look forward to seeing how Ironbark ends up coming together.