Oh, Michael Bay, you're just too predictable. After making Megan Fox parade around in skimpy clothes for no particular reason before cameras even rolled on 'Transformers' and later replacing her with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a model he shot in the desert for Victoria's Secret beforehand, the helmer has done it again casting Israeli supermodel Bar Paly as the female lead of his latest effort, "Pain And Gain."
We're sure the abundance of pictures of a scantily-clad Paly online helped Bay's casting process but, in his slight defence, the Israeli model will actually play a former beauty queen who has illegally immigrated to the U.S. with big dreams and is promised the world by Mark Wahlberg's character — which at least makes a little more sense than casting an untried actress as the female lead of a billion dollar franchise. Paly herself most recently featured in Roman Coppola's "A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III."
Also joining the project is "Monk" star Tony Shalhoub who will portray the unfortunate target of Wahlberg's kidnapping scheme for the fascinating story based on real-life events about a group of bodybuilders who engage in a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in Florida. Anthony Mackie, Dwayne Johnson, Ed Harris and Rob Corddry round out the cast for what's being described as a Coen-esque crime-caper.
Lensing is set to begin this spring for the Paramount feature though no release date has been set just yet. [Variety]
