One of the many projects HBO is developing is a cold war series called The Missionary.  If the pilot gets picked up, the series would take place during the 1960s and center on an American missionary (Benjamin Walker) who gets caught up in Cold War intrigue while helping a young woman escape East Berlin.  Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Levinson, and Mark Wahlberg will executive produce the pilot, Charles Randolph will pen the script, and Baltasar Kormákur will direct the pilot.

Recently I sat down with Kormákur (Contraband, 2 Guns) for an extended video interview and he gave me an update on the project.  He said the plan is to film the pilot in Hungary in April.  In addition, they’ll also shoot a couple of days in East Berlin, but he says Hungary looks most like East Berlin from the time period.  We also discussed casting, how he got involved in the pilot, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter star Benjamin Walker is lining himself up a fairly high profile television gig.  THR reports that Walker will lead an HBO drama pilot called The Missionary.  The series takes place during the 1960s and centers on an American missionary who gets caught up in Cold War intrigue while helping a young woman escape East Berlin.  Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Levinson, and Mark Wahlberg—who are clearly fans of Showtime’s Homeland—will executive produce the pilot while Charles Randolph will pen the script.

Walker had been set to lead the 15th century supernatural pic The Great Wall alongside Henry Cavill before that project was postponed due to financing issues.  Edward Zwick has since dropped out as director, so it’s unlikely The Great Wall will retain the same cast if/when it gets going again.  A series order decision on The Missionary won’t be made until the pilot is finished, and as we saw with The Corrections even the highest caliber of talent doesn’t guarantee that HBO will give the go-ahead for a full series.  Nevertheless, this is one to keep an eye on.

Breaking Bad‘s breakout star, the Emmy-winning Aaron Paul, is in talks to play the lead in HBO’s newly piloted Cold War spy drama The Missionary. The series will come from writer Charles Randolph (The Interpreter), and has the involvement of familiar HBO producers Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg, along with The Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell (who is a friend of Randolph’s). For more on The Missionary, hit the jump.