Although a young person might not remember it, Gary Oldman used to do movies featuring characters besides Harry Potter and Batman. Playing good guys in those movies is a switch for those of us who remember him as the bad guy in Air Force One, Murder in the First, The Contender, Leon, and, well, almost everything else he’s done.

Variety says that Oldman is negotiating to join the cast of Rain Fall, a thriller set in Japan. His character is not disclosed, but since the main character is a Japanese/American hit man, it’s likely not going to be Oldman. More probably is the CIA station chief in Japan who is, naturally, one of the bad guys. The movie, based on a book by Barry Eisler, follows the hit man who has to protect the daughter of one of his victims from being knocked off by the CIA.

The director is Australian Max Mannix, who I’ve never heard of. He previously directed a dance/martial arts movie starring Jason Scott Lee. The film will be mostly in Japanese, although it is likely Oldman’s parts will be some of those that are in English. The remainder of the article discusses the financing of the picture, which is unique in Japan. I don’t really care much about how this $7 million picture gets financed and you don’t either, so let’s just say it is complicated and leave it at that.