YES!
Variety reports that Tim Roth has joined the cast of The Incredible Hulk, which is going to be an entirely different take on the character than the convoluted, complicated and generally unpleasant mess of a movie we got from Ang Lee in 2003.
This revamp — from Transporter director Louis Letterier — will take things back to the roots of the early comics and the man-on-the-run scenario from the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television series.
Awesome.
Every new cast announcement makes me even more excited about this. We’ve already got Ed Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner and lovely Liv Tyler as Betty Ross.
Roth is set to play Emil Blonsky, a KGB agent who attempts to purposefully recreate the same gamma ray accident that caused Banner to become the Hulk. Blonksy succeeds … kind of. He turns himself into a monstrous abomination called — are you ready for it? — The Abomination, who’s got more way more gamma power pumping through his veins than Banner’s Hulk. Unfortunately for Blonksy, however, he’s unable to revert back to human form the way Banner can and therefore blames Banner (however unfairly) for his condition.
This is pretty exciting, because it means that Banner will be on the run not only from the military but also from a monster who’s even more powerful than his own.
All we need to know now is who’s going to play Betty’s father, General “Thunderbolt” Ross, who’s leading the military’s efforts to bring in the Hulk. Sam Elliott played him in Ang Lee’s version, and it’s going to be really hard to find somebody better than Elliott to play the part in the restart. We’ll see what happens.
Previous Hulk coverage:
Liv Tyler joins Ed Norton in The Incredible Hulk!
Ed Norton to make green for being green
Interviews: Bill Bixby remembered
Share your Mountain Dew and nachos with The Incredible Hulk — because you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry (or hungry) — at the theater near you on June 13, 2008!