The Coldest City: Charlize Theron to play a spy in David Leitch's new thriller

Hollywood actress Charlize Theron is preparing to take on the role of a super spy in new thriller The Coldest City.

According to Deadline.com, the 39-year-old star will portray an infiltrator who is called into action after an underground MI6 officer is killed days before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The film focuses on her mission to track down a list he was smuggling to the West in order to prevent her and her fellow spies from becoming targets. Soon the mission becomes a deadly game of betrayal and global agendas.

The film is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Antony Johnston. V For Vendetta's David Leitch and Chad Stahelski have been enlisted to direct, while Kurt Johnstad, the man behind Dead Space and Wasteland, will write the script. Theron will produce the project.

The female-led cast will come as a welcome for Theron, who recently weighed in on the ongoing controversy over equal pay and rights for women in Hollywood.

She recently revealed that she had to "fight" to earn the same wage as co-star Chris Hemsworth when she starred in The Huntsman.

"Once I asked, they said yes. They did not fight it," she told Elle magazine. "And maybe that's the message: that we just need to put our foot down."

The mother-of-one also revealed that she is an optimist.

"It doesn't mean you hate men. It means equal rights," she explained. "If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way."

Production on the film is expected to begin this October in Germany.

Meanwhile, Theron is preparing for the release of her latest movie, Mad Max: Fury Road, a post-apocalyptic thriller, directed by George Miller.