Two years before Apple unveiled the first trailer for Mayday, military vehicles, Soviet flags and red-starred tanks appeared around Budapest’s Heroes’ Square.

A missile-like prop was spotted moving through the city centre, briefly provoking speculation online before the far less alarming explanation emerged: Ryan Reynolds was making a movie.

The finished production is now approaching audiences. Apple Original Films released the first trailer for Mayday on July 14, offering an initial look at the Cold War action comedy ahead of its global Apple TV premiere on September 4.

Budapest Reporter first covered the project in 2023, when Hungary was already confirmed as part of its multi-country production plan.

For Budapest, the release brings a major international production back into view — this time no longer through location reports and celebrity sightings, but as a completed film built partly with Hungarian locations, production infrastructure and crew.

Reynolds stars as Lieutenant Troy “Assassin” Kelly, a hotshot US Navy pilot sent on a secret mission into Russian territory at the height of the Cold War. When the operation collapses, he finds himself stranded behind enemy lines with few apparent routes home.

His unexpected lifeline is Nikolai Ustinov, a former KGB agent played by Kenneth Branagh. Gruff but fascinated by American culture, Nikolai initially appears just as likely to become Troy’s captor as his rescuer. Their uneasy encounter develops into the central partnership of the film, turning the familiar architecture of a Cold War thriller into an action-driven buddy comedy.

The supporting cast includes Maria Bakalova, Marcin Dorociński, David Morse, Lovell Adams-Gray and Clark Johnson.

Mayday was written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the filmmaking duo behind Game Night and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Their previous work has repeatedly combined genre storytelling with character-led comedy — an approach that appears especially suited to the contrast between Reynolds’ fast-talking American pilot and Branagh’s more restrained former intelligence officer.

The film comes from Skydance Media, with Maximum Effort’s Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau producing alongside Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger. Reynolds is also among the executive producers.

How Budapest helped build the Cold War setting

The production was originally planned across Budapest, Montreal and San Diego, with the Hungarian stage taking place in spring 2024. Reynolds spent several weeks in the capital, later sharing a photograph from Budapest and writing that he had loved every second of working in the city.

The most visible filming took place around Heroes’ Square in late May. Military vehicles occupied the area, while tanks bearing red stars and flags carrying Soviet symbols transformed one of Budapest’s most recognisable public spaces into part of the film’s Cold War environment.

The scale of the production briefly created a story of its own. Footage of a large missile-like object being transported through central Budapest circulated online without its film-production context, prompting speculation that it might be genuine military equipment.

As Lakmusz later documented, the object appeared alongside a wider collection of props and vehicles connected to the Mayday shoot.

The Hungarian leg combined extensive location work in Budapest with studio production at Korda Studios in Etyek, one of Hungary’s principal facilities for international filmmaking. Public credits identify Gergő Balika as producer for Hungary, while contemporary reporting connected Mid Atlantic Films to the local production.

Together, the studio work, Budapest locations and Hungarian crew formed a substantial part of the film’s multi-country shoot.

The result is a clear example of what Hungary offers large-scale period productions: Korda Studios’ soundstage infrastructure, monumental Budapest locations, controllable urban spaces and experienced crews capable of transforming contemporary settings into other countries and historical eras.

Mayday will premiere globally on Apple TV on September 4, 2026.

Photo: Budapest Reporter

Source: Budapest Reporter - republished with permission

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