The companies are partnering on the thriller to star Jason Clarke and Omar Sy. Lionsgate will distribute in North America and Good Universe will introduce what looks to be an early hot project to international buyers in Cannes.

Stephen Gaghan, who wrote Traffic and wrote and directed Syriana, will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with Shannon Burke about a former spy who teams up with a disgraced New York police officer to eliminate a threat against Manhattan.

Clarke, hot off his breakout role in Zero Dark Thirty, will play the former covert operative while Sy, who starred in the international smash The Intouchables, will portray a drug lord.

Gaghan is producing Candy Store with Allison Shearmur. Good Universe’s Joe Drake, Nathan Kahane and Nicole Brown will serve as executive producers alongside Flashlight Films’ Allyn Stewart and Kipp Nelson.

Drake and Dan Freedman negotiated the deals for Good Universe alongside Sean Kisker for Lionsgate.

CAA represents Gaghan, Shearmur, Burke, Clarke and Sy. Clarke is also represented by Robert Stein Management and attorney Peter Nelson, while Sy is also handled by Laurent Gregoire of Adequat.

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