One of the biggest questions that has persisted about with the upcoming sequel Horrible Bosses 2 is, “Why?” But once that initial cynicism levels off, movie-goers are left to ponder exactly how and why the trio of lead characters would get themselves mixed up with terrible employers again - and, more importantly, who those employers would be. According to Deadline’s sources, Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz have been getting consideration from New Line to step up to the challenge. Rather than looking to cast them as the head of two different companies, though, the actors would play father and son. While the first film also featured a familial pairing of the sympathetic Donald Sutherland and his coke-snorting offspring Colin Farrell, apparently both the father and the son in the new film will be bosses of the "horrible" variety. Somebody call the “fresh idea” police, because I think we found an offender.
What makes Deadline's report utterly bizarre, however, is that one sentence after talking about the potential casting of Waltz and Pine they throw a heaping dose of cold water on the rumor. While insiders say that the Austrian two-time Oscar winner and the studio did meet, he will be "unavailable" for the production - though there is a chance that J.J. Abrams' Captain Kirk may be up for the gig. It’ll practically a crime to have Waltz teased like this and then taken away so quickly. He would have been an excellent addition to this flick, even if this flick wouldn’t necessarily be an excellent addition to his resume. We’ve seen almost all sides of the Oscar winner’s talent, though he hasn’t been involved with such a goofy, raunchy comedy yet. Come to think of it, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Chris Pine drop an F-bomb in a movie. Or even smile for that matter. It would be interesting to see him take on such a role, but I would have been much more interested to see Waltz get involved.
Honestly, it would be pretty tough for either one of them to come close to topping Farrell’s maniacally over-the-top performance in the first film. Likewise, he hadn’t ever played such a zany role, and was probably the most memorable aspect of the movie as a result (much more so than Jamie Foxx’s fake murder consultant Motherfucker Jones).
If Waltz is unavailable to be in the sequel, that probably means that one of his next projects will be getting underway soon, as Horrible Bosses 2 went into production just last month with Charlie Day, Jason Sudekis and Jason Bateman all reprising their roles. With both Muppets Most Wanted and Tim Burton’s Big Eyes now in post-production, Waltz will be next be starring as Mikhail Gorbachev in Mike Newell’s historical drama Reykjavik and in Stephen Gaghan’s crime thriller Candy Store. He has also been rumored to be up for a role in the upcoming live-action Tarzan reimagining.
Pine, whose Star Trek Into Darkness came out this past summer, will soon be seen back in theaters this December in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and is currently filming Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the musical Into the Woods. Craig Zobel’s post-nuclear drama Z for Zachariah also remains on the horizon.
Horrible Bosses 2 has already bossed its way into a release date of November 26, 2014, and with cameras already rolling we can probably expect some official casting news very soon.
