Veteran actor Michael Rooker is no stranger to the action genre. The actor has been doing a stellar job killing zombies on a weekly basis as Merle Dixon on The Walking Dead, and before that he portrayed everything from gunslingers to serial killers. Today, he can add superhero to his resume. Deadline has reported that Rooker has been cast as Yondu, the great hunter from the planet Centuari IV in James Gunn‘s Guardians of the Galaxy. Rooker will join Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and former mixed martial arts artist and wrestler Dave Bautista in the pic slated for released on August 1st, 2014, following a June production.
Also moving into production this June is Lionsgate’s coveted Draft Day. The script by Rajiv Joseph and Scot Rothman topped the Black List in 2012 and only days after announcing that Timothy Simons would be joining the cast, the studio presses on with more casting news for its upcoming NFL comedy helmed by Ivan Reitman. Frank Langella (Superman Returns, Frost/Nixon) joins Reitman in what will mark their third film together, with Dave and Junior being the two previous collaborations.. Langella will play the owner of the Cleveland Browns. He joins a talented ensemble composed of Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner and Denis Leary.
In other casting news, The Wrap reports that Vince Vaughn has lined up the Euro-centered comedy Business Trip. Coming from The Pursuit of Happyness writer Steve Conrad, the film will follow Vaughn as an American businessman who travels to Europe and hell breaks loose. Described in the vein of Planes, Trains & Automobiles, we’re still awaiting a director, but audiences can see Vaughn in both The Internship and Delivery Man later this year.
In our final bit of casting news, the production outfit out of New Mexico has confirmed Sarah Silverman for Seth MacFarlane’s upcoming Western comedy, A Million Ways to Die in the West. Silverman will play an experienced, but haggard and lewd town prostitute who takes part in all sorts of scandalous promiscuity, while refusing to have sex with her finance Edward (Ribisi), because she believes that as a Christian couple they should not engage in the devil’s deed until they are properly wed. Silverman joins Amanda Seyfried, Charlize Theron, Giovanni Ribisi, Liam Neeson and of course, MacFarlane, in the comedy which goes into production next month.
Which of the upcoming films are you most looking forward to?