Benedict Cumberbatch thriller ‘The Courier’ (formerly titled ‘Ironbark’) set for late summer opening

Lionsgate and sister company Roadside Attractions will deliver the Cold War espionage drama The Courier, starring Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, to theaters on August 28, 2020. The film screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival under the title Ironbark.

The Courier is the true story of an unassuming British businessman Greville Wynne (Cumberbatch) recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. At the behest of the UK’s MI-6 and a CIA operative (Rachel Brosnahan), he forms a covert, dangerous partnership with Soviet officer Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze) in an effort to provide crucial intelligence needed to prevent a nuclear confrontation  and defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Dominic Cooke (ON CHESIL BEACH) directed The Courier from a script by Tom O’Connor (THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD).  The film is a 42 M&P, SunnyMarch and FilmNation Entertainment  production.  Adam Ackland, Ben Browning, Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken are producers.  Leah Clarke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ashley Fox, Glen Basner, Alison Cohen, Milan Popelka, Dominic Cooke, Tom O’Connor, Josh Varney are executive producers.

BAFTA nominee Sean Bobbitt (12 YEARS A SLAVE) is director of photography; Oscar® nominee Suzie Davies (MR. TURNER) is production designer; Oscar® nominee Tariq Anwar (THE KING’S SPEECH) and Gareth C. Scales (HOW TO BUILD A GIRL) are editors; Keith Madden (MR. HOLMES) is costume designer; BAFTA® nominee Abel Korzeniowski (NOCTURNAL ANIMALS) is composer.

“Theaters have indicated gradual openings this summer, with health and safety guiding the way.  If everything proceeds favorably, we feel the true spy thriller The Courier, with a must see performance by Benedict Cumberbatch, is just the type of film that will have audiences excited to return to their local cinemas in late August,” said Roadside co-presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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