Jake Gyllenhaal is to headline upcoming thriller Welcome To Vienna.
The Nightcrawler actor has been cast in the lead role in the Focus Features project, to be based on Kevin Wignall’s novel To Die in Vienna, which will be released by Thomas & Mercer on 14 June (18).
To Die in Vienna follows American surveillance contractor Freddie Makin, who has been watching Jiang Cheng, a Chinese academic in Vienna, Austria for the past year. The plot takes a dark turn when one day an intruder breaks into Freddie’s apartment and tries to kill him, with it soon becoming apparent that he’s seen something that he shouldn’t have seen, but he has no idea what it is, or who is targeting him, or even who’s been employing him.
In addition to taking the lead role, Gyllenhaal will also produce the flick under his Nine Stories production company banner alongside his business partner Riva Marker. Nine Stories’ Annie Marter will act as an executive producer.
The production company most recently produced Gyllenhaal’s 2017 biographical drama Stronger, which told of how Jeff Bauman lost both of his legs in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and his struggles to adapt to his new life.
The 37-year-old currently has a number of projects lined up including The Sisters Brothers, also featuring Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, and Luca Guadagnino’s Rio, which follows a struggling actor who travels to Rio de Janeiro to visit a wealthy friend, only to get sucked into a plot to fake his pal’s death.
He will soon begin promoting Paul Dano’s Wildlife, a drama also starring Carey Mulligan.
A release date for Welcome to Vienna is yet to be announced.
