After breaking out as the dweeby Kenny in Rawson Marshall Thurber’s comedy hit We’re the Millers, Will Poulter is stepping into much more dramatic territory for one of his next big roles. According to Variety, he’s in talks to join The Revenant, a revenge thriller which Biutiful helmer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is set to direct for New Regency.
Leonardo DiCaprio is already signed on to star in the movie, which Mark L. Smith and Inarritu adapted from Michael Punke’s 2003 novel. Set in 1820s South Dakota, The Revenant will focus on an ill-fated fur trapping expedition. When Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), one of the trappers, is mauled by a bear, he’s robbed and abandoned by his two companions. When Glass slowly recovers from his wounds, he sets out on a mission of revenge.
Tom Hardy is also still in talks to join the cast, playing one of Glass’s companions. It’s unknown whether Poulter would play the other companion, or a different character we haven’t yet heard about, but we should be getting more info on his role soon.
Before he films The Revenant, however, Poulter has YA dystopian adaptation The Maze Runner coming out this fall. That project is getting a lot of advance buzz and could very well send the actor’s star much higher that even We’re the Millers did. He also has indie Glassland and Afghanistan war drama The Yellow Birds (in which he stars alongside Tye Sheridan and Benedict Cumberbatch) on the way, so evidently we’re going to be hearing his name a lot over the next few years.
Though Poulter broke out as a comedy actor, New Regency obviously believes that he has the gravitas for a dramatic project like The Revenant, which the studio is surely planning to position as an awards contender (after all, Inarritu’s fall movie Birdman is majorly heating up right now). And who can blame them with DiCaprio and Hardy on board as well. The Revenant is definitely one we’ll be looking forward to.
