Peter Dinklage’s Toxic Avenger has reportedly found his nemesis. Late last year, the aforementioned Game of Thrones star boarded the incoming reboot of the cult classic B-movie, and now it’s been revealed that Lord of the Rings icon Elijah Wood has joined him in the Legendary Pictures production to play the main villain.
The Illuminerdi, who have proven accurate with many of their casting scoops in the past, reports that Wood has signed up to portray a character named Bob Garbinger, the corrupt CEO of shady company Garb X and also the boss of Dinklage’s weakling janitor Winston, who becomes a mutant vigilante after falling in toxic waste. Bob is apparently set to embark “on a murderous spree to become as powerful as Toxie.”
This will be the second collaboration between Wood and director Macon Blair, following Netflix comedy-thriller I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore. The actor previously made clear that he was excited for the project when he celebrated Dinklage’s casting on Twitter back in November, saying:
Yes!🙌🏼🔥 @MaconBlair https://t.co/yYjGkM24PZ
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) December 1, 2020
This reboot is of course based on the 1984 original, which spawned three sequels – the last of which released back in 2000 – as well as an unlikely and short-lived children’s animated series in 1991 and even a stage musical. Somehow, Toxie has always proven to be more popular than his B-movie origins would suggest and now it seems Legendary is looking to make the hero more mainstream, what with the casting of major stars like Dinklage and Wood in the remake. Jacob Tremblay is also on board to play Winston’s sickly son.
Co-creator Lloyd Kaufman has praised what Blair has done with the character, promising us that he’s an avid fan of the franchise and Troma’s wider body of work and will definitely bring that classic Troma feel to his new movie. That said, Kaufman admitted that Blair’s script is superior to the original and will work on a whole other level, too.
The Toxic Avenger reboot is set to start shooting in Bulgaria later this month.
