John Goodman, who gave one heck of a fun performance in the current Oscar hopeful Trumbo, is in talks to star alongside Charlize Theron and James McAvoy in Coldest City for Focus Features. The film is about a super spy (Theron) who springs into action after an underground MI5 officer is killed just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. She must find a list he was smuggling into the West, to protect herself and the counter-intelligence community. Goodman is in talks for the role of an American agent who works with Theron and McAvoy.

My colleague Mike Fleming first reported this project with Theron earlier this year when Focus gobbled it up in a near-eight-figure deal for North American rights with John Wick helmers David Leitch & Chad Stahelski directing from a Kurt Johnstad script. Leitch is producing along with Theron and A.J. Dix, Beth Kono, Eric Gitter, Kelly McCormick and Peter Schwerin.

The spy thriller is based on the bestselling Oni Press graphic novel by Antony Johnston. Sierra/Affinity’s Nick Meyer is backing the film and its $30 million-plus budget; it’s shooting in Budapest and Berlin.

Besides Trumbo, Goodman just recently stepped into Kong: Skull Island. His most recent feature work is Going Under, the comedy Love The Coopers and Valencia. Goodman is repped by Gersh.