Following the news that Bruce Willis – he who was ‘bored’ with action movies – would be taking on low-budget thriller The Prince, the cast list has now expanded with the addition of Jason Patric and John Cusack in key roles.
Patric will play Paul, a retired mob enforcer who is forced to return to Las Vegas when his daughter goes missing. There, he must confront old enemies, including Omar – played by Willis – who has waited years for the opportunity to settle a score. Details of Cusack’s role have yet to be confirmed, but we understand that Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Escape Plan), Johnathon Schaech (Ray Donovan), Gia Mantegna (The Frozen Ground), and actor/singer Rain (Speed Racer) will round off The Prince‘s ensemble cast.
The early presence of Bruce Willis on this cast list undoubtedly makes The Prince an interesting prospect. Last time Willis made a conscious decision to break from his action movie mould, he delivered The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Alpha Dog – all performance-driven, interesting films. Patric and Cusack, on the other hand, tend to make choices that are more unpredictable in quality. The last critical success on the big screen for Jason Patric was My Sister’s Keeper (2009), while John Cusack seems to make as many films that (often inexplicably) head straight to DVD, as those that secure a theatrical release.
With a script written by newcomer Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore (Red Dawn) for Lionsgate, The Prince is as unknown a quantity as it is possible to be. All will soon be revealed, however, as cameras are set to begin rolling next week, with Brian A. Miller in the director’s chair. Incidentally, Miller recently completed production on The Outsider, which also starred Jason Patric – but with no release date yet set for that movie, it remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of a productive actor/director relationship.
