Production for Netflix's 'The Gray Man' paused indefinitely due to surge in COVID-19 cases

WASHINGTON: Amid concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in California, the production for the Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling starrer 'The Gray Man' is getting delayed by Netflix.

According to E! News, 'The Gray Man' was scheduled to go on floors from mid-January, but due to the sudden surge in coronavirus cases in California, the production has been paused for an indefinite time. The sources close to the development revealed on Friday that since a relatively high number of people are needed to launch the production, it's not plausible to do so while these precautions are being taken due to the virus spread.

The sets for the shoot were being constructed in the Long Beach area of southern Los Angeles County before this pause by Netflix.

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As per E! News, back in August, the California State Film Commission had announced that 'The Gray Man' was selected for a USD 20 million production tax credit allocation, which was marginally the largest amount unveiled from the USD 50 million conditional allocations for nine film projects.

The movie, which was announced in July, is based on a series of best-seller novels of the same name by Mark Greaney. Ryan Gosling will be portraying the role of an ex-CIA operative who becomes a contract killer only to be pursued by a former colleague, portrayed by Chris Evans.

Directed by the 'Avengers: End Game' fame director-duo Joe and Anthony Russo, the movie is slated to be produced by them under their AGBO company.

'The Gray Man' is one of the biggest movies by Netflix, with its budget in the range of USD 200 million. Joe Russo will also be the writer along with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who are the co-presidents of story at AGBO and were also the writers for "Avengers: Endgame" and "Avengers: Infinity Wars."