We’ve been delighted in the last few years to see veteran character actor James Badge Dale break out to bigger and better things. The actor’s been a familiar face for a while thanks to “The Departed” and “The Pacific,” but racked up a string of high-profile credits and scene-stealing performances in things like “Shame,” “The Grey,” “Flight,” “Iron Man 3,” “The Lone Ranger” and “Parkland,” and finally looks to be graduating to lead roles, with horror-actioner “Spectral” due in 2016.
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First up though is something smaller in scale, as Badge Dale takes the lead in indie Civil War drama “Echoes Of War,” which hits theaters next month. Written and directed by Australian helmer Kane Senes, it sees the actor play a haunted soldier who returns home to Texas from the conflict, only to spark up a conflict between his family and a cattle rancher neighbor.
The film also features a freakishly unrecognizable Ethan Embry (“Empire Records”), the great William Forsythe, and Maika Monroe, star of breakout horror hit “It Follows,” and looks like it could be a pretty decent little low-budget Western, and a good showcase for one of our favorite working actors. “Echoes Of War” premieres on home territory at the Dallas Film Festival very shortly before hitting theaters, along with iTunes and VOD, on May 15th. [The Moviebox]