Update: Variety reports that Luke Evans is now in negotiatoins for the villain role in "Fast & Furious 6." Scheduling was an issue with Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" but he'll wrap up his work there, and then move right over to Justin Lin's film.
Originally reported 05/01/12: Over the past few days rumors have been flying wildly around the web that Universal, impressed with Rihanna's performance in "Battleship," were going to slot her in the villain role in the brewing "Fast & Furious 6." The reports originated from the U.K.'s The Sun paper — a red flag if there ever was one — and quickly spread like wildfire. We reached out to reps to see if this was accurate, but while they didn't offer a straight denial, from what we we gather, nothing was certain. And whether it was true or not that the singer was being courted, a much more reliable source is putting forth a much different name.
Twitch reports that Luke Evans has been offered the baddie part in the upcoming sequel. Apparently, this is the same role that Jason Statham turned down last month and well, that's about all there really is to it. No word yet on exactly what the part entails, but clearly it seems the antagonist will be some kind of English menace if both Statham and Evans are being sought. While the actor's calendar appears to be free — filming starts soon — we'd wager it depends on what work he might have left to do on Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" movies as Bard The Bowman.
No offense to Evans, but as far as villains go, he's not the most compelling choice (actually, Statham playing the baddie for once would've been cool). But then again, the 'Fast' franchise has been really been about iconic villains, but about Vin and his dudes driving muscle cars around and bro-ing out homoerotically. So we'll see where this goes, but the lesson here is: The Sun is still a pretty terrible paper.
