Sean Penn. Javier Bardem. Idris Elba. For any normal production that would be more than enough star-power, but apparently it's not quite enough for Pierre Morel's The Gunman, as today the project has added yet another top-notch performer to the gang.
Deadline is reporting that The Departed and Beowulf star Ray Winstone has been added to the cast of the action film, as has Italian actress Jasmine Trinca. Based on the novel "Prone Gunman" by Jean-Patrick Manchette, the story centers on an international operative (Penn) who is turned on by his handlers and forced to go on the run through various locales in Europe. The site says that Winstone will be playing Penn's mentor at the organization that betrays the lead character, which is strange casting when you consider that the former is only three years older than the latter. There aren't any details about the character that Trinca will play, though sources say that she will be playing the female lead. As previously reported, production is scheduled to start later this month and will start in Barcelona, Spain. Pete Travis, who directed last year's comic book adaptation Dredd, wrote the screenplay.
Winstone's last big movie came last summer when he starred as a dwarf in Rupert Sanders' Snow White and the Huntsman and has been having a pretty slow 2013 thus far, but has big plans for early next year. In March he will be seen going head-to-head with Russell Crowe in Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah. And with any luck we'll get our first glimpse at his performance in the coming months.
