Hot on the heels of wowing audiences as Nazi in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds (and winning the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for it), Austrian actor Christoph Waltz has joined the cast of the already-in-production Green Hornet as the film’s lead villain. Nicholas Cage had previously been in talks for the role, but walked away from negotiations last week when a deal couldn’t be finalized.
Variety describes Waltz’s character as “a Los Angeles crime boss who tries to unite the city’s various gangs in order to form a supermafia.” His character will be facing opposition from newspaper publisher-turned-vigilante the Green Hornet, to be played by Seth Rogen.
As one of those blown away by his complex performance in Basterds, I am excited to see that Waltz is already getting more English language work. And while Cage does have his moments, I think that Waltz is a more interesting choice for the role. Then again, I’m thinking that Waltz is the default more interesting choice for any role.
We’ll be seeing Green Hornet in December 2010.
Nick Cage can’t act. full stop. Christoph Waltz is a true acting genius – why would anyone even contemplate Nick when you could get Christoph???