Dead Man Down is coming to life. A few days after Dominic Cooper entered talks for a little supporting work, Variety tells us that Terrence Howard has just been locked as the villain. For some context: Prior reports on J.H. Wyman‘s script described our lead character, Victor (Colin Farrell), as “right hand man to an underground crime lord in New York City” who’s in the midst of “infiltrating a crime syndicate responsible for the death of his family.”

This ties in rather nicely with Variety’s summary of Howard‘s antagonist, being “Alphonse Hoyt, a charming but brutal crimelord who is accustomed to being feared but is thrown off guard when a mysterious tormenter (Farrell) starts sabotaging his business from within and picks off his men one by one as revenge for the death of his family”; Noomi Rapace‘s character, Beatrice, is “a crime victim seeking retribution.” If this mostly adds up through early summations, here’s hoping it’s cohesive when told in 105 minutes.

If you’ve forgotten Howard‘s great talents as an actor — blame his filmography from the last several years — you might not think much of the choice; those of us who haven’t forgotten Howard‘s great talent as an actor… well, we won’t dispute the pick in any fashion. Between Cooper and he, Dead Man Down has very suddenly and quite rightfully become one to watch out for. Original Films are producing, with shooting set to go at the end of this month.

Are you curious about Howard’s upcoming work in Dead Man Down?