'All The Old Knives': Chris Pine And Thandie Newton Are Ex-Lover Spies In Amazon Thriller

Chris Pine and Thandie Newton playing ex-lovers and spies in a new movie? We couldn't say yes fast enough. Neither, apparently, could Amazon Studios, which has landed the rights to produce All the Old Knives, an action-thriller set to star Pine and Newton based on the novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer.

Deadline reports that Amazon Studios is producing the adaptation of All the Old Knives, starring Chris Pine and Thandie Newton as two former lovers and spies who meet in Vienna to reminisce about old times, based on the novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer, who also adapted the screenplay. Amazon has also tapped Danish filmmaker Janus Metz (Borg/McEnroe) to direct the spy thriller.

Here is the logline for All the Old Knives:

The story is set in the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea and follows ex-lovers — one a CIA spy, one an ex-spy — meet over dinner to reminisce on their time together at Vienna station. The conversation moves inevitably to the disastrous hijacking of Royal Jordanian Flight 127, which ended in the deaths of all on board. That failure haunts the CIA to this day, and Henry has come to Carmel to close the book on that seedy chapter. As they parry, flirting, over California cuisine, it becomes clear that one of them is not going to survive the meal.

This is already a fantastic premise which sounds like a delicious cross between Before Sunset and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Pine and Newton are both incredibly magnetic, alluring actors who can walk that paper-thin line between seduction and sabotage so well. Both of them have starred in spy movies that have called on them to do the same — Pine with the abysmal This Means War and Newton with the slightly better Mission: Impossible 2. Hopefully those past missteps won't be a predictor for how All the Old Knives turns out.

Interestingly, Pine has been attached to the project for a while now. Back in 2017, the actor was reported to star in All the Old Knives opposite Michelle Williams, but the project has changed over the years.

All the Old Knives will be produced with Chockstone Pictures and Nick Wechsler Productions in association with Entertainment One (eOne). Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz and Nick Wechsler will produce through Chockstone Pictures, and Matt Jackson will produce through his Jackson Pictures. Pine will executive produce through his Barry Linen Productions along with Joanne Lee of Jackson Pictures and Kate Churchill of Churchill Films. Richard Hewitt and Mark Gordon will also executive produce.