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| “ | Great khans, they used to cross these lands. Brutal killers. It was said if you wanted to find one, you had to step over the dead. | „ |
| ~ Leveque referencing the history of the Khans when seeing his dead henchmen. |
| “ | What is it that you want, huh? You want a boyfriend? So pedestrian. He does not know you. He does not see the real you. | „ |
| ~ Leveque's last words while attempting to kill Sadie Rhodes. |
Leveque is the main antagonist of the 2023 Apple TV+ action romance comedy film Ghosted.
He is a former French military intelligence officer who became a ruthless international arms dealer and terrorist. For even more profit, he attempts to sell the dangerous biochemical weapon "Aztec" to a high-profile buyer by killing the legendary CIA asset "the Taxman".
He was portrayed by Adrien Brody, who has also played Luca Changretta in Peaky Blinders, Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Sterling Frost Jr. in Poker Face, and Flavio Volpe in Giallo.
Biography[]
Background[]
Leveque is a disgraced soldier and member of French intelligence who, after finding himself bleeding in a ditch in Kabul, had a moment of clarity and essentially decided to turn to a life of crime. As such, he became an infamous terrorist and arms dealer who sells weapons of mass destruction on the black market for profit, feared for his ruthlessness as he would have his enemies asssassinated or tortured by his sadistic henchman Borislov with tools and a whole gallery of deadly insects that he has in his lair. He even corrupted a CIA agent named Elena Reznik into working, and even killing innocent people for him, which forced a CIA agent Sadie Rhodes known as the legendary "Taxman" to kill Elena. Leveque has since been attempting to get the codes for a deadly biochemical weapon that he stole called Aztec, which is said to be so deadly it could wipe out the Eastern Seaboard and kill thousands to millions, so that he can sell it to a buyer named Utami all for the sake of profit.
Hunt for Aztec[]
When Sadie kills Elena, who was working on getting the codes, Leveque wants to find her and get her to give up the passcode. Setting up a trap for her, which a man named Cole Turner falls into, leading Leveque and his men to think Cole is the Taxman, Leveque has his men drug and kidnap Cole and bring him to his lair so Borislov can torture the passcodes out of him, during which Cole constantly protests he is not the Taxman and his just a farmer named Cole Turner, which they do not believe. But right before Borislov can torture Cole with some murder hornets, Sadie comes in and kills a lot of Leveque's men and escapes with Cole to a local village while arguing about each other.
Bounty on the Taxman[]
Meanwhile, Leveque finally appears in his lair, indifferently citing a quote about the Great Khans when referencing his dead men. However, when he sees that the Taxman, who they still think is Cole, escaped, Leveque is upset with their failure and decides to punish a random wounded henchman by having him mauled to death by Latin American bullet ants, despite his right-hand, Wagner, saying that the henchman doesn't know anything. Leveque then has Wagner put out a $1 million bounty on Cole brought to him alive, but that if anyone kills him, that bounty moves to their head. As such, several assassins find Cole and Sadie but kill each other trying to get them to Leveque.
As such, Sadie disguises as a bounty hunter and brings Cole to Leveque, who tells Cole about his backstory before threatening to have Cole killed "for nothing" if he doesn't give the Aztec passcode and sending Sadie, Cole, and his henchmen on a plane and telling Wagner to get the passcode and kill Sadie when they touch down. When Wagner asks why Leveque isn't coming, he says that if anything goes wrong with the case, everyone on the plane dies, "no pressure". However, when Wagner calls Leveque to say that Sadie escaped with Cole, Leveque gets angry and threatens him with death if Wagner doesn't find the Taxman and Aztec within the next 48 hours.
Meeting with the Taxman[]
However, when Sadie, Cole, and the rest of the FBI find out that the genetic sequence of a plant used by the Aztecs is the code to the Aztec weapon, they decide to disguise Cole as the Taxman to give Leveque the passcode to lure him in to capture, during which Leveque is stated to be ruthless enough to target Cole's family. First sending part of the passcode to lure him in, Leveque immediately suspects it as a trap but then meets with his very impatient buyer, Mr. Utami, who threatens to kill him and his henchmen if they fail to get him his weapon. Leveque does insist on one condition, which is that the Taxman dies.
Leveque, Utami, and the rest of their men then meet Cole at a revolving restaurant, but not before Leveque has his men kill the FBI agents monitoring Cole. However, when Cole tries to talk and stall his way out, Leveque and Utami grow very impatient and almost kill Cole before Sadie shows up and reveals herself as the real Taxman and sells Utami the code for a wire of $10 million, a deal which Utami honors despite the protests of Leveque.
Death[]
Sadie then immediately uses the money to put a bounty on Leveque, which draws many bounty hunters who happen to be at the restaurant to pull a gun on Leveque's head, in which Leveque tries to scam the bounty hunter with $20 million to kill Sadie before having his men start a shootout so he can save himself, resulting in the deaths of dozens of henchmen, while Leveque betrays and kills Mr. Utami and attempts to grab Aztec and leave, but not before attempting to choke Sadie to death before being thrown out of the skyscraper high restaurant to his death.
Personality[]
Leveque is very charismatic and ruthless. He makes sure to keep his polite tone when speaking with associates or even enemies. However, he has no remorse over killing and torturing people, and is willing to cause thousands to millions of deaths for his own profit. He doesn't care about his men, as not only does he regularly belittle Wagner and threaten him with death, but he also has one of his men eaten alive by Latin American bullet ants as punishment for failing to capture the Taxman, despite the henchman not knowing anything. He is also very sophisticated, as he often wears expensive attire like tuxedos and trenchcoats, even gloves. He also seems to have a hobby of collecting hundreds of deadly and painful insects that he often uses to torture his enemies.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Leveque's actor, Adrien Brody, and Sadie Rhodes' actor, Ana de Armas, previously starred together in Blonde.