Piper Perabo has joined the cast of Red Machine, the new thriller from director David Hackl. In the film, a group of campers decide to go camping in the Alaskan wilderness and are stalked by a violent grizzly bear called, you guessed it, the Red Machine. The project is coming together quickly, as the three main male cast members joined a couple weeks ago. In addition to Perabo, the cast also includes James Marsden, Thomas Jane and Billy Bob Thornton. Perabo's character will be Jane's girlfriend. According to Deadline, The couple met while serving in the Iraq War and she is a deaf photographer. Marsden will play Jane's brother and will also have a girlfriend, however, and actress has not yet been cast. Thornton will play someone outside the group, namely a legendary bear expert and hunter who is going after Red Machine. The project is based on an original screenplay by newcomer J.R. Reher.
The movie will be the first that Hackl has directed since 2008's Saw V. He has spent most of his career as a production designer, working on movies like Repo! The Genetic Opera, Skinwalkers, and Saw II through IV. The project will also serve as a comeback of sorts for Perabo. While she does have a starring role on the USA Network's hour long drama Covert Affairs, she hasn't been seen in a movie since Ajay Naidu's 2010 film Ashes. Her next silver screen performance will be in Rian Johnson's Looper alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt. That movie comes out on September 28th.
While casting isn't done yet, Hackl has already knocked it out of the park with what he has assembled thus far. Unfortunately he's still working from behind, as Saw V was one of the weakest in the franchise, but hopefully Reher's screenplay will stand up and Hackl will prove himself as a director.
