Well before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered movie theaters entirely, action stars and filmmakers had already started flocking to Netflix. They gave Michael Bay a ton of money to make the nutty 6 Underground, and they let Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg reboot a classic character with Spenser Confidential, released earlier in March. Wahlberg apparently had such a good time that he’s heading back to the streaming giant for another go.
This comes from Variety, which reports that Wahlberg is in early talks to produce and star in Our Man in Jersey, in which the actor would play, as they put it, “a blue-collar 007 James Bond-type character.” The title is a twist on Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene’s classic comedic spy novel, about an agent who starts making up reports that he sends to his superiors. It’s not clear what the plot will be, but the script will come from David Guggenheim, who penned the 2012 Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds thriller Safe House as well as another, very different Netflix movie, The Christmas Chronicles, starring Kurt Russell.
Spenser Confidential was, as per Netflix, a big hit, watched by over 85 million households in its first six weeks, although since they only release select streaming data — and only when something does well — such claims are to be taken with a grain of salt. Still, if they’re willing to give Wahlberg more money to make the kind of fare that once filled multiplexes, it’s safe to assume at least someone’s watching him.
(Via Variety)