Casting Roundup: Galifianakis in MIRACLE WORKERS; Rourke in talks for WAR OF THE GODS; Atkins joins DRIVE ANGRY
Zach Galifianakis is attached to star in the supernatural buddy comedy Miracle Workers, which is being produced by Michael Aguiler (The Crazies, Damn Nation), reports STYD.
Miracle Workers centers on two friends posing as exorcists, who think they've got a good thing going until they're faced with a real menace.
Will the focus be the buddy comedy, with the supernatural stuff saved for the last act? We'll have to wait and see. Either way, audiences always need a healthy dose of vitamin G.
It appears they are close to inking a deal with someone to helm the movie, as a director announcement is reportedly forthcoming.
This would be the latest movie getting in on the exorcism game. As Venkman reported earlier today, New Line has cast Anthony Hopkins as a priest who's an expert in exorcisms, in The Rite, joining other possessed flicks like The Vatican Tapes, and the Eli Roth Produced The Last Exorcism.
Speaking of getting in on a game...
Mickey Rourke may be getting in on the Greek mythology game, coming off the heels of flicks like Percy Jackson and Clash of the Titans.
The actor is in talks to join the cast of Relativity Media's War of the Gods, reports Deadline Hollywood. The film follows a young warrior Theseus who leads his men into battle with the immortal Greek gods to defeat evil and the powerful elder gods of the Titans in order to save mankind.
As we reported yesterday, Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) has been cast as Phaedra, an oracle priestess who must join Theseus on his quest to prevent the cataclysmic war from erupting. Henry Cavill (The Tudors) is playing Theseus. Rourke is in negotiations for the part of King Hyperion, the ruler of Ancient Greece who does battle with the divines.
Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell) will direct War of the Gods, which was formerly titled Dawn of War. The original screenplay was written by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, while the most recent draft of the script was penned by Jason Keller. Production on War of the Gods is set to start in April with Universal handling the release.
Rourke has staged quite the comeback, thanks to his Golden Globe-winning turn in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. We'll next see him on screen in Jon Favreu's Iron Man 2, and Stallone's The Expendables. It was also announced yesterday that he has been cast as the father of Conan the Barbarian in Marcus Nispel's Conan.
Speaking of comebacks...
The great Tom Atkins will be coming back to work with his My Bloody Valentine director Patrick Lussier, for Nu Image/Millennium Films' 3D carnage fest Drive Angry, reports DreadCentral.
Atkins joins the previously announced Nicolas Cage, Charlotte Ross, Billy Burke, Amber Heard, David Morse, and William Fichtner.
Drive Angry, co-written by Lussier and Todd Farmer, is a tale of revenge that centers on a man (Cage) driven by rage who is chasing the people who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. The vendetta/rescue spins out of control as the chase gets bloodier by the mile, leaving bodies strewn along the highway.
Production will be begin in April in Louisiana.