Willem Dafoe is a man of eclectic taste, vacillating between decidedly arthouse fare like “Antichrist” and “The Dust Of Time,” low rent fare like “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” and “Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant” and straight up tentpole movies such as “Spiderman” and the upcoming “John Carter Of Mars.” He follows his muse wherever it goes really, and it looks like it has a taste for the supernatural.
THR reports that Dafoe is in talks to join “The Mummy” and “G.I. Joe” director Stephen Sommers‘ gestating tween thriller “Odd Thomas.” Starring Anton Yelchin and Addison Timlin, the film is an adaptation of Dean Koontz‘s mystery series about a short-order cook who can communicate with the dead. Dafoe would play police Chief Wyatt Porter who is aware of the titular character’s (Yelchin) powers, who along with the love interest played by Timlin, is the only one privy to this info. There’s still no word on Tim Robbins who was reported to be also circling a part in the film — either that of the police chief (now taken) or Fungus Man a stranger who Thomas believes is linked to an upcoming catastrophe — but we suppose we’ll find out soon enough.
With an intriguing premise, some decent buzz and solid cast shaping up, could this be Sommers’ first decent film? We’re not holding our breath, but we’ll give him a shot. The independently-produced picture gets underway on May 2nd in New Mexico, for a release in 2012.