Benedict Cumberbatch is set to play Cold War spy Greville Wynne in the true story tale Ironbark for FilmNation. The film is said to adopt a Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy tone and is based on a spec script by Tom O’Connor (The Hitman’s Bodyguard).
Wynne was a UK electrical engineer recruited to MI5 just before WWII. He soon became an intermediary for a high-ranking Soviet spy who sold secrets to British intelligence and ultimately provided key intel that ended the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Ultimately they were exposed by a double agent – Wynne was imprisoned in Russia, his Soviet contact (codenamed Ironbark) was executed. Wynne was ultimately released in exchange for the spy Gordon Lonsdale in 1964 – the exchange taking place in No Man’s Land dividing East and West Berlin.
Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) will direct and executive produce with Cumberbatch. Ben Pugh, Rory Aitken, and Adam Ackland will produce. Filming aims to begin early 2019.
