Pre-production for the upcoming remake of director Gareth Huw Evans’s 2011/2012 cult smash hit, The Raid is well underway before its forthcoming film schedule next Spring. Several popular names made the rumormill in the last few months before it was officially reported that Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Purge: Anarchy co-star Frank Grillo would be the first among the names attached for the new film to be helmed by The Expendables 3 helmer Patrick Hughes.
On Monday, the production finally saw its male lead attached in the form of actor Taylor Kitsch (Savages, Battleship, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Lone Survivor), accroding to forwarded reports from Comingsoon.net. The new film will see Kitsch starring in Hughes‘s Hollywood adaptation centered on an elite DEA fast team who get trapped inside a tenanment building behind enemy lines, fortified by a powerful drug lord and his army of loyal, bloodthirsty killers. It’s no secret either that Kitsch has some pretty big shoes to fill considering the first film from Evans, the kickstarter of its own franchise, is led by actor and genuine martial artist Iko Uwais, whose latest appearance in this year’s The Raid 2 has become an even bigger cult hit around the world.
The film is being written by Out Of The Furnace co-scribe Brad Inglesby for Screen Gems, the studio developing the remake. International sales agent XYZ Films is producing the film as well, with Uwais and the original team reportedly designing the fights.
Stay tuned for more casting news!