Netflix Hit Spy Thriller Brings A Real-Life Agent’s Hit Novel To Life
Netflix is stacked with options for action lovers with originals including Damsel and Rebel Moon streamable alongside beloved classics and fresh new stories like The Hunger Games franchise, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and The Equalizer 3. But, right now, a largely undersung title is taking over the Top 10, scoring at number two, as the Aaron Eckhart-led The Bricklayer is drawing subscribers left and right.
The Bricklayer On Netflix
In The Bricklayer, Aaron Eckhart stars as Vail, an ex-CIA agent who left the business of spy work and started over as a professional bricklayer.
Things are going pretty well for Vail in his more mundane life as he mostly keeps to himself and has time to enjoy the world without having a constant target on his back. But, Vail finds himself pulled back into the game after a foreign journalist is assassinated with the killer framing the CIA.
Hoping to clear his beloved agency’s name, Vail snaps back into action and steps up to the task at hand.
Aaron Eckhart Stars
Many will recognize Aaron Eckhart from the multitude of other similar genre movies that have filled out his career before The Bricklayer. He was the face (or two faces) of Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, President Benjamin Asher in both Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen.
He also holds credits in a slew of other films such as I, Frankenstein, Sully, and Rumble Through the Dark. Joining him in The Bricklayer is a cast that includes The Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev and Minority Report’s Tim Blake Nelson.
Based On Novel Of Same Name
Based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Paul Lindsay (who wrote the book under his pseudonym, Noah Boyd), The Bricklayer is the latest high-octane project to come from director Renny Harlin.
Whether you know it or not, you’ve undoubtedly seen Harlin’s work as he’s the visionary behind such titles as Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2, Deep Blue Sea, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Audiences will next see Harlin’s work on the big screen in The Strangers: Chapter 1 as the helmer has signed on to back the three prequel films coming from Lionsgate.
A Long Time In Development
Having one of those Hollywood stories of a lengthy production time, The Bricklayer was a project that had first been announced in 2011, a full 11 years before it would actually begin filming.
Action star Gerard Butler was the first actor to be associated with the leading role of Vail but as time went on, the Greenland star stepped down from the gig, allowing Aaron Eckhart to take over.
Back-And-Forth
After The Bricklayer had its leading man, the rest of casting fell into place with filming picking up in Bulgaria and Greece in spring 2022.
After a back-and-forth with its original distributor, Screen Media, The Bricklayer would ultimately fall into the hands of Vertical Entertainment.
The studio set a day-and-date release in the United States on January 5, 2024, with both a digital and theatrical release.
Streaming The Bricklayer
If you didn’t have the chance to catch it on the big screen and didn’t want to fully commit to a digital copy, now’s your time to catch Aaron Eckhart in his latest action role as The Bricklayer is now streaming on Netflix.
