He’s already found one of his leads in character actor Michael Parks, and now it would seem Kevin Smith is close to locking in a few more cast members for horror pic Red State, with Dermot Mulroney, Stephen Root, Kyle Gallner and Michael Angarano all in talks to possibly join up.
And that’s not all: there’s more character acting talent circling the film as Melissa Leo is also pondering taking part.
Mulroney’s been seen in the likes of About Schmidt and, more recently, Burn After Reading, while Root, who last cropped up in The Men Who Stare at Goats should be familiar to anyone who loved Office Space or TV's King of the Hill. Gallner was hunted by Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street, while Angarano last worked on Gentlemen Broncos and appeared in The Forbidden Kingdom (he probably wants to forget that one, though). Leo, meanwhile, is best known for her Oscar-nominated turn in Frozen River and will likely next be seen in Conviction and David O Russell’s The Fighter.
There’s no intel yet on what any of them will be playing – according to The Wrap, they’re all still just in negotiations, and the film’s actual plot remains largely a secret. Smith is still putting the finishing touches to the script and has only really said that it’ll be horrific, take shots at hateful religious types and is loosely based on the king of such types, Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps.
But thanks to a recent tweet from Smith, we do at least know that the director plans to kick off shooting on September 22.