HUGE Casting News

I very rarely write up a post concerning upcoming movies. There are plenty of sites out there dedicated to nothing more than alerting movie nerds to the latest Hollywood news and notes (and I surf a number of them myself). But every once in a while something really grabs my attention and I feel I have to share.

Later this year (supposedly, though it has all the markings of a film that will get pushed back), the Coen brothers will release their remake of the John Wayne classic "True Grit." Jeff Bridges will take over for Wayne and Josh Brolin and Matt Damon will also appear. I am extremely excited for this movie and today's news only heightened that.

One of my all time favorite actors is Barry Pepper. In my mind he is criminally underrated and hasn't had a decent role in years. Pepper was AMAZING as Private Daniel Jackson in "Saving Private Ryan" and even better as Roger Maris in "*61" (which only I and about 10 other people have ever seen). Pepper hasn't had many good turns over the last decade (which I trace directly to his unfortunate involvement with "Battlefield: Earth") which is so sad. The dude is solid all around and should be bigger than he is. Perhaps this will all change now that he's been cast in the villain's role for "True Grit." Being involved with the Coens has been a career saver for a number of actors over the last 15 years and I seriously hope their magic will work again in this case. Seriously looking forward to this film.