BURBANK, Calif.-Production has begun in Boston on the action comedy “Central Intelligence,” for New Line Cinema and Universal Pictures. The film, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, will be directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, director of the hit comedies “We’re the Millers” and “Dodgeball.”
The story follows a one-time bullied geek who grew up to be a lethal CIA agent (Johnson), coming home for his high school reunion. Claiming to be on a top-secret case, he enlists the help of the former “big man on campus” (Hart), now an accountant who misses his glory days. But before the staid numbers-cruncher realizes what he’s getting into it’s too late to get out, as his increasingly unpredictable new friend drags him through a world of shoot-outs, double-crosses and espionage that could get them both killed in more ways than he can count.
“Central Intelligence” will also star Oscar nominee Amy Ryan (“Gone Baby Gone”) as CIA Agent Harris; and Danielle Nicolet (TV’s “The Game”) as Maggie, the wife and high school sweetheart of Hart’s BMOC.
Thurber will direct from a screenplay by Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen and Sean Anders & John Morris, story by Ike Barinholtz & David Stassen. The film will be produced by Scott Stuber (“Ted”), Peter Principato (TV’s “Black-ish”), Paul Young (“Black-ish”) and Michael Fottrell (“Furious Seven”). Ed Helms, who previously worked with Thurber on “We’re the Millers,” will serve as executive producer.
The creative film making team includes director of photography Barry Peterson (“We’re the Millers,” “21 Jump Street”), production designer Stephen Lineweaver (“Ted,” “Blades of Glory”), editors Mike Sale and Brian Olds (“We’re the Millers,” “Tammy”) and costume designer Carol Ramsey (“Horrible Bosses,” “Dodgeball”).
A New Line Cinema and Universal Pictures presentation of a Bluegrass Films/Principato Young Entertainment Production, “Central Intelligence” will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
