Christian Slater joins the rapidly growing ranks of Sylvester Stallone‘s upcoming hitman movie formerly called Headshot. The action pic is based on a graphic novel called Bullet to the Head, and according to IMDB, that’s the film’s title as of now. Variety reports that Slater will play a local handler and middleman, joining a cast that includes Stallone, Sung Kang (Fast Five), and Jason Momoa (Conan).
Bullet to the Head also picked up Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (G.I. Joe) to play the main villain, a corrupt attorney who’s been exploiting towns post Hurricane Katrina. Holt McCallany, the star of FX’s recently cancelled boxing series Lights Out, has also joined up to play a dirty cop.
This Warner Bros. action pic has gone through some troubled times, with a switch-up in directors landing Walter Hill (Last Man Standing) in the director’s chair after Wayne Kramer exited the project. Then there was that whole thing with Thomas Jane. Jane was onboard to play the cop that teams up with Sly’s vengeance-seeking hitman, then was suddenly detached from the project. And from what Jane says, filmmakers decided to go with another “ethnic” actor because of an action movie buddy “formula”. Kang will now be playing that role.
Bullet to the Head has begun filming on location in Louisiana and New York, with Stallone playing a New Orleans hitman who teams up with a younger cop from New York after some grisly murders bring them together. The investigation will lead them from seedy New Orleans back alleys to the centers of power in Washington D.C., and the duo will stop at nothing to meet out justice and revenge.
Slater, who was a film staple in the ’90s, kind of did a cinematic fade away in the ’00s. I still remember his Jack Nicholson-esque cheekiness in Heathers, and even True Romance. Recently he’s been attached to a number of projects, and I hope this casting signals an upward trend for him.
