Casting News: Chris Evans Replaces James Franco in The Iceman; Dwayne Johnson to Become a Monster Hunter
Posted 11.22.11 by Ryan
Chris Evans has made a career out of portraying comic book characters like Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies and Captain America in Captain America: First Avenger and the upcoming The Avengers, but his next role will see him play a decidedly darker role in The Iceman.
No, the movie is not a solo spin-off for the X-Men character, but instead follows convicted murderer Richard Kuklinski, a.k.a. the Iceman, who claims to have killed more than 250 people as a contract killer for the mob. According to Deadline, Evans will play Kuklinski's mentor, Robert Pronge, a role originally cast with James Franco. Michael Shannon, who will play General Zod in the upcoming comic book movie Man of Steel, is set to play Kuklinski.
Based on the book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer by Anthony Bruno as well as the documentary The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer by Jim Thebaut, the movie will go into production next month under the direction of Ariel Vromen (Rx, Danika), who co-wrote the script with his Rx screenwriter Morgan Land. Benicio del Toro is set to co-star as notorious mobster Roy Demeo, Kuklinski’s employer.
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Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson's career trajectory seems to vacillate between action flicks and family-friendly movies. For every Fast Five, there's a Tooth Fairy, though lately Johnson has tried to go from action movies to family adventure movies, such as the upcoming Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. It looks like Johnson will continue with the adventure movie for a role in Monster Hunter’s Survival Guide.
Deadline reports that Johnson is attached to star in the live action adaptation of the comic book miniseries written by John Paul Russ. The series portends to be a comprehensive guide to surviving and hunting monsters, from the undead to the Loch Ness monster and the Kraken. Simon Kinberg, who wrote 2009's Sherlock Holmes and produced this year's X-Men: First Class is producing and developing the project.
With no screenwriter or director announced just yet, however, it seems like we'll be waiting a while for Johnson to educate us on monster survival, so, in the meantime, be careful.