British actor Mark Strong, known typically for portraying tough guy parts in films like Kick-Ass (2010) and Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), may have juicy part up his sleeve in the upcoming period docudrama The Catcher Was Spy. According to Deadline, Strong has been cast as Werner Heisenberg in the forthcoming drama. Heisenberg was the mysterious head scientist for the Nazi atomic program and a person of great interest to the American government – one of their main targets – in the midst of World War II.
Historically, the significance of Heisenberg was his involvement within Nazi capabilities of building an atomic bomb. The Catcher Was a Spy investigates this question from the American perspective with Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) heading the film as baseball player Moe Berg, a spy for the OSS who was tasked with getting the goods of what Heisenberg was up to. Ben Lewin, who previously wrote and directed the 2012 bio The Sessions (which earned Helen Hunt an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress), will direct the film from a screenplay by Robert Rodat (Oscar nominated for Saving Private Ryan) and based on the book by Nicholas Dawidoff.
Strong’s casting completes the principle picture for The Catcher Was a Spy, which features and ensembles that includes Rudd, Guy Pearce (Genius), Sienna Miller (The Lost City of Z), Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale) and Paul Giamatti (Straight Outta Compton). Strong last appeared in the Jessica Chastain political thriller Miss Sloane and will next be seen reprising his role of Merlin in this year’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle. He is also rumored to appear in Kristin Scott Thomas’ forthcoming directorial debut The Sea Change. He has memorably appeared in past films including The Imitation Game and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
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