Chris Evans has had a wonky year to say the least. While he led the blockbuster hit "Captain America: The First Avenger," his ventures outside the comic book movie were less successful. The gritty drama "Puncture" didn't quite catch on and the less said about "What's Your Number" the better. While he's certainly proven himself as a superhero (more than once thanks to the "Fantastic Four" films), he's still establishing himself as a serious actor, though this next project could find him flexing his thespian skills, instead of his biceps.
With James Franco out, Evans has replaced him on the mob pic "The Iceman" which boats a truly…eclectic…cast. Co-written (with Morgan Land) and set to be directed by Ariel Vromen, the film follows the exploits of Richard Kulinski (Michael Shannon), one of the most notorious mob hitmen, claiming over 100 kills while keeping his true identity secret from his wife and kids. David Schwimmer will play the killer Josh Rosenthal who worked under mobster Roy Demoe (Ray Liotta). Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Kulinski's unsuspecting wife with Ryan O'Nan as a "young hustler" who gets caught up in the story. Evans will take the role of Mr. Softee aka Robert Pronge, Kulinski’s mentor assassin.
This movie has been developing for a while now, but it is finally set to go with production kicking off next month. It sounds promising enough, but it's also a Millenium Films/Nu Image joint which generally means low budget/high camp. But let's hope the material that first drew Franco and Benicio Del Toro (later replaced by Liotta) to the project, bears out. [Deadline]
For some reason I have not been able to warm up to James Franco, so this is good news to me.