Deep Dive
The Bricklayer: What to Know About the Espionage Thriller
Aaron Eckhart stars as an operative tasked with stopping a plot against the CIA.
By Ingrid Ostby
April 12, 2024
The Bricklayer Movie: Cast, Book, and Plot - Netflix Tudum
When a former CIA asset goes on a killing spree to blackmail the agency, an ex-agent who swore to never return is brought back into the fold. Based on the book of the same name, the 2023 action thriller The Bricklayer stars Aaron Eckhart, Nina Dobrev, and Clifton Collins Jr. The film, from director Renny Harlin (The Misfits), was written by Matt Johnson (Into the Blue) and Hanna Weg (The Garden of Last Days).
When will The Bricklayer be released?
Where can I find the trailer for The Bricklayer?
Check it out at the top of this page.
Who’s in the cast of The Bricklayer?
- Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) as Steve Vail, aka The Bricklayer, a former CIA agent
- Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries) as Kate, a CIA agent
- Clifton Collins Jr. (Westworld) as Radek, a former CIA asset whom Kate and Vail are investigating
- Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) as O’Malley, the CIA director
- Ilfenesh Hadera (Billions) as Tye, the CIA station chief in Thessaloniki, Greece
- Oliver Trevena (Plane) as Patricio, Vail’s friend
- Akis Sakellariou (Dodo) as Kostas, Greece’s deputy minister of foreign affairs
- Ori Pfeffer (Jolt) as Sten, a former CIA informant
What happens in The Bricklayer?
German journalist Greta Becker (Veronica Ferres) was just found dead in her hotel in Greece. It’s the third murder of a journalist in a month, and the public blames the CIA. (Becker’s reporting was highly critical of US intelligence.) Suspecting a plot to blackmail the CIA, the agency brings back to the fold grizzled former agent Steve Vail (Eckhart), who nowadays works as a bricklayer in an attempt to forget his former life as an operative. After reluctantly taking on the case, Vail finds out the primary murder suspect is Radek (Collins Jr.), a onetime insurgent and agency asset who’s since been on a killing spree. As Vail and junior CIA agent Kate (Dobrev) take on the case, Vail is forced to confront his past demons — and soon becomes a target himself.
Nina Dobrev and Aaron Eckhart in The Bricklayer
Is The Bricklayer based on a book?
Yes, it’s based on the 2010 book of the same name by Noah Boyd. Boyd was the pseudonym of author Paul Lindsay, a former FBI agent who died in 2011. As Boyd, Lindsay wrote a three-book series about Vail (who, in the novels, works for the FBI). Under his own name, Lindsay wrote several other books, most notably his debut novel Witness to the Truth: A Novel of the FBI. As an FBI agent, Lindsay was best known for investigating the Green River Killer and the Highland Park Strangler cases.
Where does The Bricklayer take place?
It takes place in Philadelphia and in Thessaloniki, Greece.
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