Today, the sizable cast of Sacha Baron Cohen’s spy comedy Grimsby continues to grow, with news that Oscar winner Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) has joined the cast in an important supporting role.
Though the specifics of Cruz’s role are officially being kept under wraps, insiders report that the actress is playing “a philanthropic corporate leader who may (or may not) be more than she seems.” Does this mean that Cruz could be playing the film’s big bad? That’s entirely possible, though Ian McShane is also in the cast, so he could be taking on the role of the main antagonist.
Grimsby stars Mark Strong as a James Bond-like secret agent who is forced to go into hiding in his hometown during a dangerous assignment. There, he must team up with his English football hooligan brother (Baron Cohen), who gets wrapped up in the action as well.
In addition to McShane and now Cruz, the supporting cast boasts Rebel Wilson, Gabourey Sidibe, Annabelle Wallis, Scott Adkins, Johnny Vegas, David Harewood and Isla Fisher. Details on most of their characters are fuzzy at best, though we do know one thing – Fisher is apparently playing “a femme fatale or other comely vixen.” Perfect casting, if we do say so ourselves.
Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) is helming Grimsby, so we can expect the film to boast quite a few explosive action sequences in addition to gut-busting laughs. The script was penned by Baron Cohen and Phil Johnston (Wreck-It Ralph), so no immediate cause for alarm on that front either.
All signs point towards Grimsby being a very funny and entertaining action-comedy – and Sony also seems to think so, having scheduled it for a competitive slot in the summer of 2015. Grimsby will open on July 31st next year, opposite the Tim Burton-helmed Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and just two weeks after the one-two blockbuster punch of Ant-Man and Pan.
