It may not come from a company named DC or Marvel, but Sony’s adaptation of Valiant Comics’ Bloodshot is shaping up to be a pretty exciting project. Set to direct is Dave Wilson, who’s had considerable experience in the genre thanks to his work across films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Deadpool, and with plans in place to spawn a whole Valiant cinematic universe from Bloodshot, the studio is now busy looking for a leading man.
According to The Wrap, that search is still underway, but from what we understand, a short list is starting to form and it contains the following names: Oscar Isaac, James McAvoy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Nicholas Hoult and Mark Wahlberg. All strong candidates and given who Sony’s gunning for here, it’s clear that they’re looking for an A-lister to help bring everything to fruition. It doesn’t appear as if anyone’s emerged as the frontrunner just yet, but it does sound like the studio’s getting close to finding their guy.
For those unfamiliar with Bloodshot, it was created back in 1992 by Kevin VanHook and Yvel Guichet and tells the story of a “former soldier brought back from the dead and infused with nanotechnology, which gives him powers of regeneration and meta-morphing. After having his memory wiped multiple times, he decides to go out and discover who he really is while also get vengeance on those who did all this to him.” Sounds like an interesting premise, right? And with a script from Arrival scribe Eric Heisserer, it definitely has the potential to be something special and hopefully stand apart in an already over-crowded genre.
As for this casting news, well, any of the individuals listed above would be a solid pick. However, a few of them already have prior franchise commitments which may get in the way, so the scheduling might not work out. For all we know, the studio could end up going with someone else entirely. This is simply just a wish list and nothing’s set in stone at the moment. If, however, it comes down to one of these five men, we’d love to see Jake Gyllenhaal get a stab at leading Bloodshot. He’s a fantastic actor who deserves a franchise to call his own, and he’s been doing some mighty impressive work lately.
That’s just our pick, though. Who would you like to see headline the film? Sound off in the usual place and give us your thoughts!
