As if we weren’t already excited enough to see Prisoners director Denis Villeneuve’s drug war thriller Sicario, today brings news that another highly talented actor has joined the film’s already strong cast. Daniel Kaluuya, known for his stint as Posh Kenneth on the British teen drama Skins, just signed on for a supporting role.
Kaluuya will join the already attached Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Jon Bernthal and Josh Brolin. He’ll play Reggie Wayne, an FBI agent partnered with a Tucson cop (Blunt). Sicario, from the pen of Sons of Anarchy actor Taylor Sheridan, centers on the tense journey that Blunt’s cop undertakes when she’s recruited by a CIA agent named Matt (Brolin) to escort two rangers to apprehend a dangerous drug kingpin. The cop soon becomes embroiled with a mysterious assassin (del Toro) who has a personal connection to the kingpin’s cartel, which was responsible for the death of his family. The story will feature a curious legal loophole in which American mercenaries can cross the border into Mexico in order to capture a drug lord.
The involvement of Villeneuve, Blunt, del Toro and Brolin already had us plenty excited for Sicario, and Kaluuya’s casting just adds to our anticipation. Though the young thesp is hardly a household name on this side of the Atlantic, he’s made a strong impression with supporting roles in films like Kick-Ass 2 (in which he played Black Death) and Welcome to the Punch (where he took on the small role of Juka Ogadowa). Kaluuya also had a recurring role in the excellent BBC series The Fades.
Sicario is definitely the actor’s most high-profile gig to date, and it should do wonders for his acting career. Hopefully he’ll get ample opportunity to show off his impressive range as Reggie, though we don’t really know the extent of the role yet. Sicario is expected to arrive sometime in 2015, so we should find out soon enough.
