In a piece of simply atrocious casting it has been announced that Tyler Perry is set to take on the role of Detective Alex Cross, in a forthcoming adaptation of James Patterson’s beset-selling novel I, Alex Cross.
If you have seen either Along Came a Spider or Kiss the Girls you will be familiar with Cross, who was portrayed by the rather excellent Morgan Freeman. Until very recently The Wire star Idris Elba had been linked with the role, who would have been a darn sight better than Perry.
Perry of course is best known, if known at all, for dressing up as Madea, a mad black woman (his/her words, not mine) in a string of mediocre comedies such as Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea’s Family Reunion and Meet the Browns. He is also the sixth highest paid man in Hollywood, proving once and for all that those guys really don’t know what they are doing most of the time.
Other great news on the project is the addition of director Rob Cohen, he of xXx, Stealth and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor fame. He replaces Chronicles of Riddick director David Twohy on the project, so that’s pretty much a like for like switch talent-wise.
Along Came a Spider scribe Marc Moss is currently re-writing the script, which was originally penned by author Patterson and newcomer Kerry Williamson. The novel sees Cross pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Vowing to hunt down the killer he soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington’s wildest scenes, and she was not this killer’s only victim.
The film doesn’t have a distributor as of yet, but Cohen is planning on shooting from next June. Expect a 2013 release on this bad boy.
