Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Casts Little Known Israeli Actor Yoav Levy As Bin Laden’s Third In Command

While lensing on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal reunion for the newly-titled "Zero Dark Thirty" has already began, the duo look to be casting on-the-fly with little known Israeli theater actor Yoav Levy now joining the project as Osama Bin Laden's reported third-in-command, Abu Faraj al-Libi.

Levy joins the star-studded cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez but may very well be one of few (if any) cast members to have actual military experience. He served in the Israeli army in dangerous areas of the long-standing Israeli-Palestine conflicts before making a name for himself on the theater scene. To date, Levy has only featured in Julian Schnabel's "Miral" but evidently impressed Bigelow/Boal enough recently in Jordan where he auditioned, to earn the role of Faraj (al-Libi is not part of his real name and is simply translated as "the Libyan"). At the very least, we're sure he'll have a few stories to tell on set about real-life combat.

Though his name isn't familiar as that of the terrorist leader, Faraj was promoted to Bin Laden's number three in Al Qaeda's operations in 2004. He was ambushed and arrested a year later along with five other Al Qaeda suspects on the grounds of masterminding two failed attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. He is still being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Harold Perrineau, Nash Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle and Fares Fares all co-star in the currently titled "Zero Dark Thirty," which will hit theaters on December 19th. [YNetNews]