Ridley Scott's next movie will be a gangster flick called American Gangster with Denzel Washington as a heroine kingpin and Russell Crowe as a cop taking him down. With the leads already cast months ago, they're still filling out the rest of the cast. This week Ridley has added rappers to his role call.

The Hollywood Reporter says rapping actors RZA, T.I., and Common are joining his film. RZA will be one of Crowe's cop partners. The other two will be default gangsters. John Ortiz, John Hawkes, Ted Levine, and Yul Vazquez have also signed up, but to me the most interesting news is that Chiwetal Ejiofer has joined the cast.

His name is nearly impossible to spell, let alone remember, but some of you may recognize his face (to your right) as that of "The Operative" in Serenity. The one or two of you that actually saw Serenity that is. If you haven't, you should… just for him. He's brilliant, even lyrical as the movie's bad guy. In fact, he's brilliant in just about everything he's done. This is an actor who should be getting leading roles, not playing second banana to Denzel and Crowe.

Until he does get the recognition he deserved, keep an eye out for Chiwetal wherever he pops up. American Gangster is a reunion of sorts for him and Washington. They worked together last year on the wickedly cool Spike Lee hostage movie Inside Man.