After six seasons of torment and crying trying to do the right thing by the island on Lost, Matthew Fox is taking on a movie role that allows him to be the bad guy. According to Deadline he's taken on the villain role in I, Alex Cross, the adaptation of the James Patterson novel that will star Tyler Perry as the titular detective avenging the murder of his wife at the hands of Fox's character, Michael Sullivan.

Sulivan is one of the more famous novels in all of Patterson's books, which means Fox may have signed on for mutli-film appearances if the filmmakers want to take things that route. There's no studio on board yet but reportedly at least three of them are interested, with a domestic distribution deal to be set up very soon. Ed Burns is also on board to play Cross's partner Tommy Kane, and Rob Cohen-- yes, of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor-- is directing.

I'm as skeptical as anyone about Perry headlining a detective series, especially reviving a character played previously by Morgan Freeman in Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider. And really, much as I loved Fox in his time played Jack Shepard on Lost, I'm not all that convinced he's got what it takes to play a cold-blooded killer either. But hey, it wouldn't be any fun if every movie seemed like a sure thing, now would it?