The dual pull-outs and lack of word from thereon out made this writer think Motor City had finally eaten road dust — but it carries on. Deadline says momentum now depends on Mickey Rourke, who’s being courted to replace Gary Oldman as the film’s primary antagonist, a “kingpin-type” with whom our hero (Gerard Butler) has a score to settle.

There’s still no word on an actress coming in to take Amber Heard‘s spot, though movement on the bigger front makes me think — with only the utmost reason, by the way — this other issue will be patched up in no time. If so, Motor City can finally have its day in the sun.

Another long-delayed project is coming together, and Rourke may be taking part in that as well, as the same story reports on talks for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, in which the actor is expected to reprise the role of Marv. (His death in that movie seems like a non-issue, given the non-chronological nature of these stories.)

And while he’d like to make it a credit for himself, Michael Madsen — who had a very brief role in the 2005 original — is trying, without success, to get himself into the film. Speaking to MTV, the actor claims he “can’t seem to get an answer out of anybody” when it comes to the job, and that “[n]obody seems to know” if there’s actually a part in the waits. Even his attempts to sit down with Robert Rodriguez were thwarted by the director being out of Austin; his friend, Harvey Weinstein, isn’t producing so, therefore, doesn’t know; and those behind the project simply “have been not very clear about it.”

Prior reports touting his return, it seems, did not hold much truth. (“I certainly didn’t put that stuff on there, so I don’t know who did.”) Madsen would still like to do it, I’d like for that to happen, and the big return of its original cast only makes this a reasonable choice. Hey, I’d even bet this news gets him signed right away.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For will hit on October 4th, 2013.

Does Rourke have the right presence to replace Oldman? Are these Sin City reprisals a good idea?