Brooklyn Decker Joins ‘Battleship’

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker has officially joined the cast of Battleship, a film adaptation of the popular naval battle board game.

This news might be more confounding had pop artist Rihanna not already signed on for the movie as well -  or if the plot of Battleship did not involve a sea battle between a warship and extra-terrestrial invaders…  Or if Tom Arnold’s name had never been connected with the project.

Director Peter Berg has assembled a collection of easy-on-the-eyes actors – including Alexander Skarsgård and Taylor Kitsch - to star in his Battleship movie.  Well, maybe not Tom Arnold, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all…

Decker will serve as the love interest for the lead naval officer in the film, who will be played by Kitsch.  The model/actress recently completed filming a role in director Dennis Dugan’s comedy Just Go With It in Hawaii – as it were, production on Battleship will begin there in just a few weeks.

Fun fact – Decker was previously under consideration to replace Megan Fox in Transformers 3.  I suppose that if her acting abilities were sufficiently impressive so as to draw the attention of a scrupulous auteur like Michael Bay, then they will certainly be good enough for Peter Berg.

Universal is investing some $200 million in this Battleship movie, which is a rather expensive budget considering that neither the original board game nor the involvement of Berg is enough to assure a solid return at the box office.  As Screen Rant‘s Ross Miller pointed out, this financial gamble on the studio’s part is a hefty one.

This issue would in part account for why younger performers with little to no solid acting experience are being cast in the film’s lead roles – eye candy to draw in younger moviegoers who are more likely to buy tickets, in essence.  Pardon my cynicism, but Hollywood IS in the business of making money after all.

Battleship is set to arrive in theaters in the U.S. on May 25th, 2012.

Source: Deadline