With District 9 tearing up the US box office, there’s been a flood of speculation about the next step for its star, the insanely naturally-talented first-time actor Sharlto Copley, who played the lovable hero, Wikus van der Merwe. But we have to confess that we didn’t see this one coming: according to Blackfilm.com, Copley has been approached to play Howling Mad Murdock in Joe Carnahan’s The A-Team.
Apparently, the deal is only at the offer stage, but while Copley might have slight concern at being typecast as a goofball, we’d be amazed if he didn’t take the role of the team’s borderline insane pilot, thus filling out a cast that already includes Liam Neeson as Col. Hannibal Smith, Bradley Cooper as Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck, and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson as B.A. Baracus.
When Empire spoke to Copley recently, he confessed to being uncertain about his next step. And while we feel that he has true leading man material – check out that jawline! - it might not be such a bad thing for him to play fourth banana in a big-budget movie, and therefore reduce the pressure on him to knock it out of the park second time round.
Also, let’s face it, it’s pretty damn good casting. Copley is a naturally funny, and hugely confident, guy, and has enough quirk about him to make him a worthy successor to Dwight Schultz, who originated the role on the TV show.
If Copley does sign on, he won’t have much time to prepare – filming has already started on the movie in Vancouver, with an eye to a summer release.
But what does this mean for other District 9 stars? Will Christopher Johnson show up in Iron Man 2? Has Fat, Bald Jason Isaacs Look-a-like been earmarked for the bad guy role in Green Lantern? Will Ersatz Alan Dale show up in Gulliver's Travels? We must be told...