2010's "Red" was, on paper, one of the least likely sleeper hits of the last few years: an actioner where the average age of the cast was over 60 (and that was even allowing for relative younglings Karl Urban and Mary-Louise Parker). And yet the film, based on Warren Ellis' comic book, directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren, took a very solid $200 million worldwide on a budget that didn't break the bank, and Summit have been moving ahead with a sequel ever since.
Original writer Jon and Erich Hoeber were brought back, "Galaxy Quest" and "Justified" director Dean Parisot was hired to replace Schwentke, and things have been moving along swimmingly, with a release date in August of 2013 announced a while back. And now Deadline have confirmed that the surviving members of the original principle cast will be returning, and they're bringing along a few new recruits.
The site says that Willis, Mirren, Parker and John Malkovich (who played an acid-casualty spy) have all signed on the dotted line to reprise their roles in the sequel, and will be joined by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Korean megastar Byung Hun-Lee ("G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra" and its upcoming sequel, and "I Saw The Devil"). There's no exact details on the plot, other than that it'll involve the aged espionage agents fighting their way across Europe.
There's no word on who the new additions will be playing, but we'd bet decent money that they're villains of some kind. It's also unclear whether some of the other actors who made it through the original alive — namely Urban, Brian Cox and Ernest Borgnine, will be back (Freeman'a character died in the original), but we're sure it'll become clear in the coming weeks. "Red 2" will be showing you pictures of its grandkids and asking you to record "N.C.I.S" on August 2nd, 2013.
