Park Chan-wook’s ‘Stoker’ Adds Phyllis Somerville
A couple of casting updates on two highly anticipated projects from acclaimed international helmers. Firstly, character actor Clifton Collins Jr. has joined the growing cast of Guillermo Del Toro‘s monster-pic “Pacific Rim” in an unnamed role. The actor joins Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Rob Kazinsky and Max Martini for the Travis Beacham-scripted tale set in Japan which will see the cast members form the human resistance against a series of devastating monster attacks.
Collins Jr. has gone missing a bit, only featuring prominently in projects like “Crank: High Voltage” and “Star Trek” (he was Eric Bana‘s right hand man). He does have a knack of popping in unexpected small roles (“Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” “Babel“) and the last time we heard anything substantial from him was when he had revealed just missing out on roles in “Inception” and “Thor” but it’s good to see the underrated actor finally score a role in a high-profile pic.
“Stoker,” the English-language debut of Park Chan-wook, meanwhile, continues to expand its cast with Phyllis Somerville (“Little Children,” TV’s “Fringe“) now set to star along side Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Jacki Weaver, Lucas Till, Dermot Mulroney and Alden Ehrenreich. Penned by Wentworth Miller under his pseudonym Ted Foulke, the story centers on “an eccentric teen, India (Wasikowska), whose enigmatic and estranged uncle (Goode) returns to the family after the death of the girl’s father. People, however, start to go missing in her hometown at the same time and she soon discovers that her uncle may be the cause.” Somerville will play the protagonist’s housekeeper, Mrs. Garrick.
Lensing on “Stoker” kicks off shortly in Nashville for a release sometime in 2012, while Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” gets under way this fall with a July 12, 2013 release penciled in.