We haven’t been keeping enough tabs on the adaptation of Red, based on the comic book mini-series created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and published by DC/Wildstorm between 2003-2004. The film adaptation first popped onto our radar when action man Bruce Willis signed-on to star, followed soon after by the news that acclaimed actor Morgan Freeman would be joining Willis . Completing the trifecta of acting heavyweights, last week we heard that Helen Mirren was onboard for Red; that’s three Golden Globe and/or Oscar-winners coming together for an obscure comic book flick! Crazy, right?

Well it gets even crazier, as we now have more famous names to add to the cast list of Red… Last week news broke that Mary Louise Parker (Weeds) and John C. Reily were in talks for the film, and today we learn  (thanks to Collider) that they will be joined by Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, and Brian Cox! For those counting, that brings the count up to a total of 7 Red cast members who have either been nominated for, or won Golden Globes/Oscars. To quote the great Keanu Reeves, “Whoa.” 

This week:

The box office sings A Christmas Carol; Faceman visits Dark Fields; Michael Fassbender fires A Single Shot; High Fidelity guys re-team with Lay The Favorite and Helen Mirren sees Red.

In the Wrap Up this week:

Warner Bros get jiggy with their release dates; Paul W.S. Anderson is The Warded Man; Schwentke sees Red with Willis and Freeman; [UPDATED] Will Spielberg helm Helm? Russell Crowe and Paul Haggis are busy for The Next Three Days and Matthew McConaughey and Eva Mendes are Southbound.

A couple of months ago we reported on the fact that Bruce Willis is still a man of action who has a slate of action films lined up for himself. One of those films is an adaptation of the Wildstorm/DC comic book entitled Red, and now it appears that Morgan Freeman is in talks to join Willis in the espionage thriller.

Writing brothers Eric and John Hoeber (who have written the adaptations of Whiteout and Alice) are set to pen the script for Red, which is to be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, G.I. Joe) and Mark Vahradian. Alongside them will be DC Comics exec Gregory Noveck, who will be serving as executive producer. No director has been brought on-board yet.

Bruce Willis is an iconic man of action to males (and females) of a certain age. John McClane from the Die Hard films is probably his trademark role (although some might say it’s David Addison from TV’s Moonlighting) and throughout the last twenty years he has been synonymous with the action genre. That isn’t about to change anytime soon.