Looks like Christoph Waltz will be getting out the hair clippers and dipping into the paint pot, as he’s signed on to play former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev opposite Michael Douglas as Roland Reagan in Reykjavik.
Mike Newell is getting set to direct the film next March, working from a script by Kevin Hood.
The story will follow the famous meeting between the two men in 1986 in Iceland, which signalled that the Cold War had finally begun to defrost. Even as the threat of nuclear war remained hanging over everyone’s heads and the talks collapsed at least once, the powerful personas of the two men kept it on track.
"I feel very fortunate to have two such masters to portray the men who brought about the end of the third great war of the 20 Century. Reagan and Gorbachev were two of the most significant politicians and individuals of their times," Newell said in a statement picked up by the Hollywood Reporter. "I'm very excited to see how each of these great actors gets to grips with their role as the history-changing giants we remember them to have been."
Waltz will next show up in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (due January 18) and is about to start work on Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem. He’ll also be heard in Fox ‘toon Epic.