Benedict Cumberbatch Playing A Spy In Ironbark

He's on screens right now helping in the battle against Thanos for Avengers: Infinity War, but for a new film, Benedict Cumberbatch is looking to revisit territory he's been to in the past. The actor is attached to star as real-life spy Greville Wynne in Ironbark.

Dominic Cooke, who previously worked with Cumberbatch on The Hollow Crown, is directing the true tale based on a spec script by Tom O'Connor, which was snapped up by FilmNation.

Wynne was an electrical engineer recruited to work for MI5 shortly before World War II and later became the main contact with a high-ranking Soviet spy named Oleg Penkovsky who was selling weapons secrets to British intelligence. They became friends, but a double agent revealed their activities and Wynne was imprisoned in Russia. Wynne was eventually released in a prisoner swap and went on to write novels based on his experiences. Penkovsky, who had also provided crucial intelligence that helped solve the Cuban Missile Crisis, faced a darker fate, one which history either records as a firing squad or committing suicide in prison.

It all sounds very Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which featured one B. Cumberbatch in its cast), and should make for a dramatic thriller with a surpisingly timely feel.