Stana Katic and Odette Yustman, the stars of some very specific Hollywood-loving masturbator’s fantasies, have jumped aboard Michael Brandt’s directorial debut “The Double.” The thriller, which starts shooting June 21st in Detroit, concerns a retired CIA agent (Richard Gere) brought out of retirement to help a young FBI operative (Topher Grace) find a senator’s killer. The CIA and FBI working together? Mass hysteria!
Katic, who can be seen weekly on ABC’s modest hit drama “Castle” playing straight man to Nathan Fillion, will be playing a Russian prostitute who knows more than she’s letting on. Yustman, who headlined the successful horror picture “The Unborn” and was one of the blurry youths mowed down in “Cloverfield,” plays the wife of Grace’s character, nervous that he’s out in the field despite being a guy with the type of physicality and temperament that would limit him to the FBI’s romantic comedy division.
Brandt helped write the script with writing partner Derek Haas, as they have done previously with “3:10 To Yuma” and “Wanted.” They have a number of action scripts in development, including “The Matarese Circle,” a “Matt Helm” movie and one of the eight thousand “Beverly Hills Cop IV” drafts, so clearly they know more than a little about action. Here’s hoping first-timer Brandt impresses in his maiden voyage, and that “Beverly Hills Cop” sequel doesn’t happen.