The Spy Epic That Wasn’t: The Brief Life and Quick Death of The Matarese Circle

Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington co-starring in a spy thriller directed by David Cronenberg. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s because it is. But it nearly happened! Way back in 2008—right as Cruise was attempting to recover his career and Washington was riding high following American Gangster—MGM acquired the rights to The Matarese Circle, by Robert Ludlum. Purchased for $3 million, it was to be “the marquee film under the new regime of MGM topper Mary Parent.” As part of the deal, they also got the rights to its sequel, The Matarese Countdown. Remember, this was right on the heels of The Bourne Ultimatum, which made $444 million dollars at the 2007 box office. Many were eager to manufacture the next Bourne series. As Jeffrey Weiner, partner at Captivate Entertainment and the Executor of the Ludlum Estate, said at the time: “…we’re going to be careful not to copy Bourne. The Matarese Circle is a different story. We don’t need to imitate Bourne to build a new franchise.” 

The Bourne films have precious little in common with the novels (also written by Ludlum) on which they are based. The original idea—a trained assassin with amnesia and a budding conscience—was the seed from which a blockbuster trilogy bloomed. The plot of The Matarese Circle is a bit more convoluted. 

Set during the Cold War, it concerns two spies who are mortal enemies: One American (Brandon Scofield, CIA) and one Russian (Vasili Taleniekov, KGB). As fate would have it, they are forced to team up in order to take down a bigger threat: A clandestine group known as the Matarese, whose goal is one of global domination and destruction. The book was published in 1979 and it is silly yet potent. As with the best of Ludlum’s work, it’s both fast-paced and overwrought. There’s an alluring villain to fit the provocative premise. There’s also more than one pages-long monologue by a supporting character to fill in decades worth of exposition. The sequel, published two decades later, is a less compelling affair.

The screenplay adaptation was written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (hot off the success of Wanted), and the plan was for Washington to play Scofield and Cruise to play Talaniekov. However, the real wild card was Cronenberg. 

Although the Canadian filmmaker had a well-established reputation as one of the best directors in the industry, a hit-maker he was not. His films tended to be dark, violent and complicated. This is the same director who, in the ‘80s, passed on Return of the Jedi and walked away from Total Recall deep into pre-production after a disagreement with a producer. But then, that was 20 years earlier. By 2009, Cronenberg had just made his two highest-grossing pictures in a row (A History of Violence and Eastern Promises) with a minted movie star (Viggo Mortensen). There would never be a better moment for him to make a brooding action epic. Also, the opportunity for a risky, R-rated espionage thriller directed by a maverick is there on the page.

Cruise had been on the lookout for tougher material like this, almost building a nastier Mission: Impossible sequel with Joe Carnahan only a few years prior. And Washington was comfortable, and his audience was comfortable watching him, in tougher fare, as evidenced in Tony Scott’s 2003 hit Man on Fire. 

What makes a Cruise and Washington duo so enticing is not just that they were—and still are—two of the biggest movie stars alive. It’s that they’re so different on screen. Cruise connotes intensity and efficiency on a razor’s edge. Washington is charming, warm and guarded. In Cronenberg’s hands, it’s hard to imagine The Matarese Circle being anything other than a delightfully strange alchemy. Unfortunately, the adaptation went sideways immediately. 

Cronenberg confirmed as much in 2011: “I was working on The Matarese Circle, the novel by Robert Ludlum, which was going to star Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise, before MGM went belly up. So I don’t think that’s going to happen now. Tom still likes the idea though.” By 2010, Parent was out at MGM. Her legacy at the studio consists mostly of the cult comedy Hot Tub Time Machine and the stalled, forgotten remake of Red Dawn (starring Connor Cruise, one of Tom Cruise’s kids!). Just two years after acquiring the rights to the property, the plans to make the movie “…were dashed when MGM ran into a financial wall shortly after [Parent’s] arrival.”

Additionally, the fourth Bourne picture stalled, then pivoted. By 2012, The Bourne Legacy, directed by Tony Gilroy and starring Jeremy Renner, came out and underwhelmed at the box office. In the years since, Captivate Entertainment has attempted to reignite the Ludlum-verse. There was Damon’s lukewarm return to the titular role in 2016’s Jason Bourne and the short-lived 2019 USA series Treadstone. There’s also The Janson Directive with John Cena and The Chancellor Manuscript, which once had Leonardo DiCaprio attached. Both long-gestating projects underline the limbo this specific IP finds itself in.

Though development on The Matarese Circle is long dormant, now is as good a time as any for its revival. In this current state of “IP first” blockbuster filmmaking, the espionage genre offers a canvas upon which talented creators can paint. Consider the superb Apple TV+ show Slow Horses (created by Graham Yost), adapted from the novels by Mick Herron. Or Christopher Nolan’s brazenly ambitious Tenet from 2020. These are genre works with bold decision-making and distinctive style. 

In the novel The Matarese Circle, both Scofield and Talaniekov have killed a loved one from the other’s life. And yet, their begrudging alliance uncovers a half-century of tragedy dictated by a secret society hellbent on disturbing the status quo. Interestingly enough, Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie would employ a similar villain in Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation. The point is, The Matarese Circle, for all of its derivative twists and pat descriptions, has a grand scope. It’s also got some memorable turns of phrase. In one scene, Antonia, the book’s female lead, observes of Scofield: “You are an odd man. You say the right words, but I have the feeling you don’t like saying them.” There are also some beautifully constructed action sequences, including a frantic escape through a villa in Italy. Shadows down long hallways give way to brutal, clandestine killings. It’s dramatic stuff.

Now imagine an updated rendering of this material, starring Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron as our two renegade spies. Or perhaps Margot Robbie and Olga Kurylenko. Ben Affleck versus Idris Elba is enticing. Keep the pairings off-kilter, maybe update the setting to a more complex, post-Cold War world of spies. And we could still have Cronenberg! Only this time it’s Brandon. David’s son has already made a gnarly assassin thriller in Possessor. A mid-budget, high-intensity Ludlum adaptation from a shingle like Neon or A24 could be just what the doctor ordered. A24 is reportedly looking to get a little less arthouse and a little more commercial. Somebody call somebody. Let’s bring The Matarese Circle back from the dead.

Dan Mecca is a writer based out of Pittsburgh. He co-founded The Film Stage and spends most of his time raising his kids, producing short-form media, and watching as many movies as possible. You can follow him on Twitter (@djmecca) and Letterboxd to see what he’s watching currently.