Big names enter rogues gallery

“Bad guys have all the fun!” That was the considered conclusion reached by Ebenezer Blackadder following his visit from the Spirit of Christmas in Blackadder's Christmas Carol. And it would seem that screen luminaries Robert De Niro, Stephen Lang and Mickey Rourke all agree, as each one apparently has a new villainous role in the offing.

Variety reports that Robert De Niro has signed up as the billionaire bad guy on the trail of Bradley Cooper's writer in science fiction thriller Dark Fields. Based on the 2001 book of the same name by Alan Glynn, the story revolves around a fictitious designer drug named MDT-48, and what happens when a sample of that substance falls into the hands of failed New York writer Eddie Spinola (if sultan of smug Cooper must play a writer then a failed one does seem the most plausible). MDT-48 bolsters the intellect, and sure enough Eddie is miraculously transformed from down and out to up and coming - before a spiralling corporate conspiracy micturates all over his narcotic-coated French fries. Leslie Dixon has adapted Glynn's novel for Universal, and she is also producing in what seems to be a bit of a passion project for her (odd to think that all the time she was writing the likes of Mrs. Doubtfire, The Heartbreak Kid and Overboard, what she really wanted to do was get down and dirty with some mind-mashing future noir).

Aside from the confirmed De Niro, a recent rumour reported on by Coming Soon had Elizabeth Banks down to join the Dark Fields company of players. Cooper himself is a latter addition to the project, having stepped into the breach when Shia LaBeouf bailed out: which was a positive development in our book. Because, okay sure, we might moan and gripe, but if we squint hard enough and hold our breath then we can just about buy Cooper as a writer. But LaBeouf?! He barely looks like he's out of high school, let alone that he might have tried, tried, tried some more, and then failed to make it in a trade that most folks don't enjoy much success in while still the sunny side of their thirtieth.

Casting chatter aside though, the premise of Dark Fields seems to have decent meat on it. If given the option, should humans attempt to optimise their minds through artificial means? Or is this 'cheating'; a petulant refusal to play the best game they can with the hand dealt to them by nature? Of course, the risk of the modern sci fi movie is that any possible philosophical lines of inquiry are cut off pretty early on in proceedings, in order for the shoot-up and chase sequences to kick into full gear. Hopefully director Neil Burger (whose debut film Interview With The Assassin can be watched for free here on Indie Movies Online) can keep all his balls in the air at once, and deliver something that is simultaneously entertaining and intellectually engaging. With Dark Fields not due to shoot till May though, there seems an additional risk that the cinema-going public will be have had their psychological techno conspiracy appetites sated by Christopher Nolan's Inception - which surely would be particularly galling for Burger, after his last-but-one movie The Illusionist had a portion of its period magic thunder half-inched by Nolan's po-faced panto The Prestige.

Stephen Lang played the bad guy in Avatar. The most successful film of all-time is Avatar. If you cast Stephen Lang as the bad guy in your film then it will be as successful as Avatar. Is this the clunking thought process at the root of the news that Lang is in negotiations to tackle king rat duties in the forthcoming Conan movie from Millennium Films?

The story comes from Latino Review, with their report citing a 'trusted source at Millennium' as the deliverer of this titbit of casting gossip. The role that Lang is circling is apparently that of Khalar Singh, who as the following casting notice indicates is a very different screen rotter than his rootin' tootin' Colonel Quaritch.

'Khalar Singh is in his 40s to 50s, Asian or Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongol, Turkish, or Persian, open to all ethnicities; commanding in size and manner, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so.

His goal is to find the Queen whose blood will bring life to the demonic minions of Acheron while making himself king of this hellish power. With this power, Khalar will protect his legacy against the onslaught of master sorcerer, Thoth-Amon so that his weak son, Fariq may rule after his death. While riding into a Cimmerian village to recruit his old comrade, Corin, his large collection of mercenaries slaughters them to the last soul when Corin refuses to join them. The village’s only survivor was young Conan. When Khalar’s search has finally narrowed to the likely discovery of the queen at a monastery of female monks, he also learns Conan is older and hungry for revenge…'

The described plot all seems standard enough action movie fare. But what about the description of the physical attributes of Khalar Singh himself? ' Asian or Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongol, Turkish, or Persian, open to all ethnicities'. Um, would it not make some kind of sense to limit the casting search to Asian or Middle Eastern actors? Mind you, we already have Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time coming out later this year, in which the title nation is the domain of movie star cutie pies (Gyllenhaal, Arterton) and venerable British thesps (Kinglsey, Molina).

Lang will need to make up his mind pretty sharpish whether he wants in or out on Conan, as the new adventures of the big lug are due to start shooting this month in Bulgaria. The man in the director's chair is Marcus Nispel, who is probably best known for his Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th remakes, but also called the shots on the 2007 Viking actioner Pathfinder, which may have been seen as a decent Conan audition reel by the suits at Millennium. Based around the character by Robert E. Howard (who seems to be enjoying a mini cinematic revival, what with Nispel's film and the recent Solomon Kane), Conan has been scripted by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (who crops up in a teeny, tiny acting role in The Autuer Theory, which you can view here on Indie Movies), with Sean Hood having recently been reported as doing a last minute rewrite.

But enough about the faceless jerks behind the camera, what of the handsome, rippling talent in front of it? Conan was of course previously portrayed on screen in the '80s by Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer (the first of which, according to an admiring Nispel 'features the best beheading ever in a motion picture'). Stargate Atlantis actor Jason Momoa has been selected to follow in the Austrian Oak's footsteps as Conan, while the word from Heat Vision last week was that Mickey Rourke was still interested in tackling the role of his ill-fated poppa Corin.

And speaking of the Rourkester (as he likes to be called to his face. Go on, try it. He'll buy you a biiiiiiiiiiig pie. One with meat in it): he is our third bit of villain casting of the day, with Variety reporting that he will star in the upcoming War of the Gods. Already due to stomp around as the nefarious Whiplash in Iron Man 2 this summer, Rourke will apparently feature in War of the Gods as King Hyperion (which coincidentally is how this writer is known round the Indie Movies office), joining a cast which includes Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto and The Tudors actor Henry Cavill. Courtesy of Slash Film, here is the synopsis for the film:

'A purported bastard who retains an allegiance to his mother despite the fact that he longs to join the quest of a king who is battling demons in ancient Greece later embarks on a grail of discovery that has him finding he is the king's son and also fated to become his country's greatest hero as he leads the successful war against long-imprisoned Titans who are hoping to use the demons to restore their power.'

Yeah, not exactly sure why that reads like it has come out arseways from a malfunctioning translation website, but we get the general idea. If the story seems a bit Clash of the Titans then it may come as no surprise that Warners previously considered buying the War of the Gods script, in order to use it for the basis of their Clash remake. However why should the public be forced to subsist on one apparently lobotomised myth-based CGI-fest when they can have two? And so War of the Gods will be creaking into a life of its own accord, under the direction of Tarsem Singh, who most recently helmed The Fall and is best-known for the looks exquisite/is shit The Cell (he also directed the “Au revoir!” Eric Cantona Nike ad). Pinto is playing the oracle Phaedra, while Cavill is playing the hero Theseus, and War of the Gods would seem to represent a decent break for the latter. The British actor has a reputation for being a bit of a blockbuster bridesmaid, having in the past been variously considered and tested for such roles of Superman, Bond, Batman, Edward Cullen and the Green Lantern, without winding up with any of them.