Frankly, it’s a surprise it took this long. Given that Die Hard launched an entire action sub-genre of ‘shootouts in tall buildings’, and that famous skyscrapers make for eye-catching locations to hook setpieces around, it was only a matter of time before someone made a movie set in, on, or around London’s jagged cloud-poker, The Shard. Now, it’s finally happening, it’s got Daisy Ridley in it, and it’s coming from Martin Campbell – the director behind 007 classics GoldenEye and Casino Royale.
In tribute to the building itself, we’ll get to the point: Campbell’s film is titled Cleaner, and while that sounds like a biopic of 'When I'm Cleaning Windows' singer George Formby, it actually stars Ridley as ex-soldier turned window cleaner Joey (this, apparently, is a thing) who’ll battle a batch of eco-terrorists in present-day London, while simultaneously sticking it to the world’s most egregious corporate pollutants. Oh, and it’s largely set to take place 90 stories up in the air, on The Shard’s gleaming glass surface.
In an exclusive Deadline report, Campbell states: “Cleaner is a nail-biting thriller, unique and original in both its characters and its setting. Much of the film takes place on the side of the Shard – hundreds of feet up in the air – and I want the audience to be up there with Joey in a stomach churning, vertiginous experience. There isn’t a more instinctive and powerful actress than Daisy right now to help us do just that. The majority of my movies have been thrillers and Cleaner is one of the best I’ve ever read.” Big words, from the man who successfully rebooted Bond – twice!
Cleaner is set to shoot this summer, and is being produced by the team behind Greenland. It’s being shopped around at Cannes next week, so expect updates soon. There’s currently no info, either, on who exactly is behind that script that impressed Campbell so much. As for Ridley, it’s another project on the countdown to her return to the galaxy far, far away – confirmed at Star Wars Celebration to be reprising the role of Rey in a film set 15 years after The Rise Of Skywalker, with her lightsaber-wielding hero building a New Jedi Order. With an upcoming slate like this, she can officially be said to working Shard, as opposed to Shardly working.