Production begins next month on the medieval actionfest Ironclad, and Variety are reporting that Paul Giamatti has just signed on to play the measly, weasely, blabberin', jabberin', wheelin', dealin' King John. Last we heard, the cast already includes Robert Carlyle, Bob Hoskins, William Moseley, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Attenborough and star-of-the-show James Purefoy. Verily tis the Dirty Dozen of knights-in-armour films.
Ironclad is the story of a group of Templar Knights defending Rochester Castle against John, who you'll recall was proxy king while his brother Richard was off on the Crusades.
Giamatti's villainy has been proven before in Shoot 'em Up, so the potential mix of that and some Harvey Pekar shmo-ness as, incredible as he is inept, he sits alone on his giant throne pretending he's the king, has us rubbing our hands with anticipatory glee.
Strange how these things come in pairs, isn't it? In 1991 we had Costner's Prince of Thieves vs Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman in Robin Hood. And Ironclad comes at a time when Ridley Scott is shooting Untitled Robin Hood Project.
We're not aware (yet) that he of the green tights and bow and arrow is part of Ironclad though (maybe he'll have a cameo like in Ivanhoe), so writer/director Jonathan English shouldn't be too much on Ridley's toes.