Let’s face it, Guy Pearce and Don Cheadle are two of the best actors out there right now. So, when you get ’em both in one movie and make that movie a spy thriller go ahead and count me in.
Cheadle and Pearce will be starring in Traitor for Overture Films and director Jeffrey Nachmanoff based on an idea from funny man Steve Martin. Apparently Martin approached producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman on the set of Bringing Down the House, telling them he had a thriller he wanted to pitch them and asked them to meet him in his trailer. The duo thought he was joking and didn’t show up only to be asked the next day why they didn’t meet him.
Once they heard the pitch they seized it and took it to Walt Disney Pictures where they had a first look deal. A regime change at the Mouse House ultimately saw the project dropped. Ultimately Nachmanoff came in with a script of his own after researching over 15 books and the project was alive again after five years.
The story centers on a CIA operative working undercover with a terrorist group who becomes a terrorist suspect. Cheadle is the undercover agent, while Pearce is an FBI agent investigating terrorist activities.
The film is set to shoot in early September in Toronto and Morocco.
