British actor Idris Elba continues to attract Hollywood attention. After appearing in Prometheus last year, the Luther actor will be seen in the 2013 blockbuster Pacific Rim. One of his next projects will be The Gunman, a thriller that already has Sean Penn and Javier Bardem on board.
The Gunman (originally Prone Gunman) will be directed by Pierre Morel, the man behind the original Taken with Liam Neeson. Penn will play an international agent whose boss turns on him and he gets stuck in a wild cat-and-mouse chase throughout Europe. Bardem signed on to play a villain last week.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Elba is in talks to star as Dupont, a mysterious operative. How he fits into the story is unknown (hence, his mysteriousness).
Meanwhile, Deadline has confirmed that Ray Winstone (The Departed, Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming Noah) has also joined the cast. He’ll play a mentor for Penn’s character.
Studio Canal and Silver Pictures are producing. THR notes that Silver has a distribution deal with Universal.
Elba will next be seen in Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which opens on July 12. He’s also playing Heimdall in Thor: The Dark World and Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
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