Will Arnett – one of this correspondent’s three funniest people working in screen comedy right now, fact fans – and Michael Shannon have joined the cast of Jimmy Hayward’s comic book Western, Jonah Hex.
Arnett, in a departure from type, will take a non-comic role as a Union soldier who enlists Josh Brolin’s scarred bounty hunter, Hex, on a mission. Shannon, meanwhile, has quickly capitalised on the heat generated by his Oscar-nominated turn in Revolutionary Road to bag the role of Doc Cross Williams, the ringleader of a gladiatorial event in which Hex finds himself. It’s a role that may well be earmarked for future cinematic instalments.
The duo join the already-cast John Malkovich, who will play a sinister voodoo practitioner trying to raise an army of the Undead during the Civil War, and Megan Fox as Brolin’s love interest, gunslinger Leila.
Production is due to start on the adaptation of the DC comic book later this month in Louisiana. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are co-financing the movie.