Jennifer Lawrence & Mockingjay Director Circling Spy Movie Red Sparrow

Red Sparrow is a espionage thriller being developed at 20th Century Fox, based on the novel by Jason Matthews. The eponymous ‘Sparrow’ is Dominika Egorova, a contemporary Russian spy specializing in seduction who begins a dangerous affair with the CIA agent she is targeting – forcing her to become a double agent, in order to survive. The film, as such, would be a modern-day addition to the popular spy/espionage genre – though, one more in the vein of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy than, say, Mission: Impossible.

The question of who will direct the feature film and who will star as the femme fatale lead has been much discussed. Currently, there are fresh reports that Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence could reunite with her Hunger Games: Catching Fire and  Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 director, Francis Lawrence, on the project.




Deadline have revealed that Lawrence is currently in talks to play Egorova and has been for some time. It is hoped that her Mockingjay director will join her on the venture, although nothing is official as of yet. The earlier script draft by Eric Warren (American Hustle) is now being reworked by Justin Haythe (The Lone Ranger) and the movie will be produced by Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch with Chernin Entertainment.

In June 2014, it was reported that David Fincher (Gone Girl)  might direct Red Sparrow and re-team with Rooney Mara (the pair worked together on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)). Fincher seemed an appropriate and likely choice for the content, being familiar with the theme of strong and deadly female protagonists (not to mention, his past experience making darker genre fare). Before Fincher, Darron Aronofsky was also in consideration to direct, but passed in order to work on a TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy for HBO.