Robert Rodriguez continues to populate his Sin City sequel, which already has promised familiar faces (Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke and Rosario Dawson) and newcomers (Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Josh Brolin). Today, the inventive director reached into his acting toolbox and pulled out Mike Hammer.
At least, according to Variety, he’s pulling out the actor who once played Mike Hammer in a series of Mickey Spillane detective stories -- Stacy Keach – who is the latest name added to the film noir’s ensemble. The trade says that Keach will play the "chief villain" in Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s planned Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. The character will be named Wallenquist, a mob boss who, according to Miller, is "the one man who can’t be redeemed in Sin City. He is pure evil."
It’s a great addition to Keach’s body of work, which quietly has a number of outstanding parts in recent years. The actor has been travelling with the touring stage production of Frost: Nixon, playing our nation’s disgraced Head of State. As Variety points out, Keach just finished filming a role for Nebraska, the latest from director Alexander Payne (The Descendents). He also had a small part in the recent The Bourne Legacy and NBC’s new sitcom 1600 Penn.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, continues to shoot the green-screen-heavy sequel in segments, adding cast members like Eva Green and filming around their schedules. A Dame to Kill For is racing to meet an Oct. 2 release date, though, so he’s either going to have to rush through his post-production, or he’s possibly editing the piece as he goes. Either way, Keach seems like a fantastic addition to the noir world, and continues our faith in Rodriguez’s sequel.
