James Cameron's return to sci-fi action with Avatar may be one of the biggest film events in years, but that doesn't mean he's hiring big names for the cast - quite the opposite, in fact. As today's news that he has cast Matt Gerald as the lead villain demonstrates perfectly.
For those (all) of you who have never heard of him, Gerald appeared in T3: Rise of the Machines and S.W.A.T., as well as In The Mix and xXx: State of the Union. OK, so it's not the best CV ever, and he does appear to have played a lot of roles where he's credited as a job title ("Bartender") rather than a name, but a quick trawl of the IMDb message boards reveals that he has a couple of fans at least.
According to one, he is, in In The Mix, "a cutie! Awesome movie! Even though he was a jerk, he was worth looking at :)". Given that this person describes Usher vanity project In The Mix as "awesome" that should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.
Another fan is even more effusive. "Matt Gerald is the most brilliant actor since John Barrymore. His sensitive portray of Officer Tommy Hisk [in The Shield] would have made Sir Lawrence (sic) Olivier sit up and take notice." Well. Gosh! We take back any sarcasm - he really must be good.
Gerald starts shooting in New Zealand and LA later this month - and best of luck to him.