Ian McShane has boarded Hercules, the Dwayne Johnson-starring MGM-Paramount co-production based on a Radical Studios graphic novel. Also joining the tentpole are Joseph Fiennes, John Hurt and Rebecca Ferguson.
Brett Ratner is directing the film, which is taking a more grounded approach to the classic Greek hero and ditches the supernatural. Hercules is portrayed not as the son of Zeus but rather as a mortal with a fearsome reputation. He leads a team of mercenaries on a job where all is ominously not what it appears.
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McShane will play Amphiarus, part priest, part prophet and part warrior who is Hercules’ counselor.
Aksel Hennie and Rufus Sewell are already on board as are other members of the team.
Beau Flynn, Barry Levine and Ratner are producing the movie.
McShane is no stranger to tentpoles, having just appeared in New Line’s Jack the Giant Slayer and last year in Snow White and the Huntsman. He famously played Blackbeard in The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
The actor will next be seen in Cuban Fury, a dance comedy that also stars Rashida Jones and Nick Nolte and opens this summer.
McShane is repped by ICM Partners, Gallant Management, Independent and Nelson, Davis, Wetzstein.
The film is eyeing a May production start in Budapest.
