As Mad Men draws to an end, Jon Hamm has just signed on for his next project, a political thriller called High Wire Act.
The 80s-set film will see Hamm play a US diplomat in Beirut who must save a former colleague from a group who may be responsible for his own family’s death. The script comes from Tony Gilroy, best known for penning the four Bourne films. He was also nominated for two Oscars for writing and directing Michael Clayton.
High Wire Act will be directed by Brad Anderson, who started out in indies such as horror Session 9 and Christian Bale drama The Machinist, but has graduated to more mainstream fare like the Halle Berry thriller The Call.
“I’m thrilled the way the project’s come together. Jon Hamm was made to play the part,” Gilroy said in a statement. “I’ve been trying to work with Brad Anderson from the moment I saw Transsiberian, and every conversation we have confirms my confidence. I can’t wait to see a script that means so much to me get up and running.”
Anderson also added that Gilroy has been “channeling John le Carré” in his script, which contains “political intrigue” and “morally compromised characters”.
Outside of Mad Men, Jon Hamm’s big-screen credits have included The Town, Bridesmaids and last year’s Million Dollar Arm. He’s also guested in 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation and, most recently, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. He will next be heard in this summer’s Minions, a Despicable Me spin-off that also features the voice of Sandra Bullock.
- This article was amended on 7 May 2015. We mistakenly referred to Tony Gilroy as the director of Nightcrawler. This has been corrected.
