Following a brief, worrying detour where it looked like Taylor Lautner might be picking up the powers for Paramount, the **Max Steel **movie was put back in development via production company Dolphin Entertainment last August. The Lautner-free cast is finally coming together, with Andy Garcia, Ben Winchell and Ana Villafañe.
Steel, based on the Mattel superhero toy line-turned-‘toon, is set up as an origin story that introduces 16-year-old Max McGrath (Winchell). He has to join forces with a powerful alien known as Steel, and uses his new extra-terrestrial abilities to discover strange secrets and save the world from a terrible threat.
Villafañe is playing a young woman named Sofia Martinez, while Garcia will be mysterious scientist Dr. Miles Edwards. Sorority Row director Stewart Handler is in charge of shot-calling for this one, based on a script by Thor: The Dark World’s Christopher Yost. The cameras have just started rolling in North Carolina.
“We're ecstatic to be working with legendary actor Andy Garcia,” says Dolphin Films CEO Bill O'Dowd in a statement picked up by The wrap. “Dr. Miles Edwards is a very complicated character, and he is central to the entire mythology of Max Steel. The role requires a truly talented actor, and there is no one more qualified than Andy to tackle it.”
Does that sound like he meant, "Andy is playing the villain, everyone!!" to anyone else? Just us? Perhaps we're reading too much into it. Anyway, there’s no word on a release date yet, but we’d expect this one to arrive next year, even given the already crowded schedule.