With pre-production on retired-agents-proving-they-can-still-kick-ass sequel **Red 2 **now in full swing, director Dean Parisot and the producers have been setting their sights on actors of a certain age who might be up for a little gunplay with Bruce Willis and co. They appear to have found one very willing recruit in Anthony Hopkins.
The actor, who is currently in Prestige Acting Mode for Sacha Gervasi’s making-of-Psycho drama Hitchcock, is apparently happy to kick back and play a scheming baddie named Edward Bailey in the knockabout action comedy follow-up.
But there’s a slight hitch in the form of Hopkins’ busy work diary. It's possible the Red shoot could clash with a prior commitment: namely, donning the eye patch and gold armour of Odin for** Thor 2**.
If the dates can be figured out, though, Hopkins would join a cast that includes Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and series newcomers Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-hun Lee.
Parisot, working from a script by Red veterans Erich and John Hoeber, is set to start shooting this autumn.