Holy. Fucking. Shit. Werner Hezog is going to face off against Tom Cruise in “One Shot.” You win Hollywood.
In what is the best bit of casting news we’ve heard all year, Variety report that the deliciously awesome Herzog is going to play the villain in the upcoming thriller. To those who have read the book, one of the most interesting questions was how the villain of the story would be portrayed on film. In Lee Child‘s novel, Zec is an ex-prisoner of war who leads the conspiracy that starts with a military sniper getting arrested and accused of murdering five people. When Robert Duvall joined the cast in an unknown role, many presumed he was taking on the villainous part. Not so. Herzog will fill that part and probably bring to it his own trademark Herzog-ness that is simply going to be awesome. Cruise + Herzog = WIN.
We’re guessing Herzog and Cruise made nice as one of the director’s many infamous quotes include: “There are certainly laws and elements that make a film more accessible to mainstream audiences. If you’ve got Tom Cruise as a strongman, I’m sure it would have larger audiences, but it wouldn’t have the same substance.” Even more, for a man who has been resolutely independent, this role marks his first really big part in a film. That it comes in the form of a Tom Cruise thriller is kind of amazing.
We just don’t know what else to say. Fuck the iPhone 5 or whatever, this is the best news we’re going to hear all day. Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Alexia Fast and Jai Courtney round out the cast for the Christopher McQuarrie-written and directed film that is currently shooting and will hit theaters on the far too distant February 8, 2013. Move that shit up, Paramount.
