You may have forgotten, but Tyler Perry is making strides outside of films that he writes and directs and just a couple of months ago, he stepped in the lead role in “I, Alex Cross” taking over for Idris Elba (and thus, killing our interest in the movie). Anyway, casting is gearing up and two names have joined the film.
Deadline reports that Matthew Fox — in his first post-“Lost” role — and Ed Burns have joined the project. Based on the book by James Patterson, Perry will take on the role of the crime busting psychologist Dr. Alex Cross. Fox will be making over his image as the dewy-eyed nice guy, taking the role of Michael Sullivan aka the Butcher of Sligo, a brutal assassin who kills for kicks and cash. After Cross botches one of his assignments, the Butcher kills Cross’ wife and then it’s game on between the two. Burns will play Tommy Kane, Cross’ partner.
Rob Cohen (”xXx,” “The Fast And The Furious”) is lined up to helm and he’s been working with Mark Moss on a script that will apparently take some liberties with the source material in terms of the twists and turns of the story.
While Perry is no Elba, an black led procedural pic is pretty rare so we’ll give this one a shot. Can’t say we’re the greatest Cohen fans in the world either but if it turns out better than the fairly tepid duo of “Kiss The Girls” and “Along Came A Spider,” which had Morgan Freeman in the role of Cross, than we’ll be paying attention.