With Cop Out, Southwest-gate, and his Twitter-slam against film critics fading into the recesses of memory, Kevin Smith is getting back to what we all really want him to do: writing and directing his own movies. Starting at Comic Con with the announcement that Michael Parks would be heading up the cast of Red State, the film has since signed Kyle Gallner, Melissa Leo, Michael Angarano, Steven Root, and Kevin Pollak. But now they have pulled out the big guns. Smith has announced during Ralph Garman's Hollywood Babble-On show (via Shock Till You Drop) that John Goodman has joined the cast of Red State, though his role is still unknown. A horror movie centered around fundamentalism, the film will be about a group of kids who run into a preacher based on Fred Phelps, the crazed leader of the Westboro Baptist Church.

This is fantastic news. In recent years Goodman has become largely invisible in major films, though he has been keeping busy with independent features and TV work (such as HBO's series Treme and movie You Don't Know Jack). I've been expecting the Coen brothers to bring him back at some point, but I suppose that this will work too. Good to have you back, John. Stick around a while.