According to
Twitch Film Spike Lee is offering the role of the main villain in
Oldboy to British actor Clive Owen. This is a role that has been a lot harder to shore up than the main lead, which Josh Brolin is locked in for. Actors Colin Firth and Christian Bale have been said to have passed on the role of the villain. Firth acknowledged that he was considering the part, but soon passed. Now Spike has his eyes set on Clive, who is someone that he has worked with before. He hired Clive Owen for the lead in
Inside Man a bank robbery heist film.
Twitch has learned that the villain role has now been offered to Clive Owen. Owen and Lee have history, of course, having worked together on Lee's underrated thriller The Inside Man. That the director and star know and like each other is certainly a plus but a much bigger plus is that Owen embodies the perfect blend of sophistication and menace that the part requires along with the sort of charisma needed to go toe to toe with Brolin. Now he just needs to say yes. - Twitch Film
While in other casting news
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that
True Blood star, James Frain is joining the cast of Johnny Depp's
The Lone Ranger. Frain is best known for playing a vampire in the popular HBO vampire show. He tortured and raped Rutina Wesley's character Tara, and then was killed off by her.
Frain will play a tough foreman overseeing Chinese and Indian rail workers who works for the story’s chief villain (Wilkinson). - The Hollywood Reporter
Thanks to Josh Wilding for the heads up.