A week or so ago we heard that Uma Thurman was in talks to join Nima Nourizadeh's action comedy American Ultra, but while that deal still doesn't seem to be quite done, there's more concrete casting news this morning. Walton Goggins has just signed up.
Goggins is, of course, the excellent character actor who's latterly been giving Timothy Olyphant a run for his money in the brilliant Justified, currently in its fifth and penultimate season. For a sampling of his other work, check out Empire's Rogues Gallery. In Justified he's Boyd Crowder. In American Ultra he's playing "Laugher". Who's Laugher? We don't know, but unsuccessful applicant Jasper Cole can at least tell us it's "a great role". Commiserations, Jasper. Tough competition.
American Ultra reunites Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart following Adventureland, and sees Eisenberg playing "unmotivated stoner" Mike, with Stewart his girlfriend. They live an uneventful life in a small town until it turns out that Mike is actually a Bourne-like amnesiac sleeper agent in a program the government has decided to shut down and wipe out. Thurman's role - if she takes it - is that of Mike's former handler who swoops back in to protect him.
Max Landis (Chronicle) wrote the screenplay, and director Nourizadeh's last film was Project X, so make of that what you will. Producer Anthony Bregman promises that, “American Ultra will be the most fun you can possibly have in a movie theater without the use of drugs, fireworks, or canola oil". Shooting starts on April 14.