Funnyman Will Arnett is taking a departure from his norm in order to play a Union soldier in the upcoming Jonah Hex film. Newly anointed Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) is set to join the cast as well. Since all of the characters in the Jonah Hex comics are total and utter badasses, it is safe to say that Arnett and Shannon’s roles are just that. The true question is, can they pull them off?

The film version of the seventies comic will follow Hex (Josh Broling), the horribly scarred former confederate soldier, as he tracks a voodoo doctor (John Malkovich) trying to raise an army of the undead for the purpose of liberating the South. Arnett will play a Union soldier who gets roped into Hex’s struggle against Malkovich. THR reports that Arnett’s role is “not inherently comic” Shannon is set to play Doc Cross Williams, the ringleader of a hard-core peculiar circus. THR claims that his character might appear in sequels. The picture starts filming in Louisiana this month.

Although I have only seen Shannon for a few minutes in a few different films, after watching him push Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to the edge in Revolutionary Road, I have faith that he can pull off the crazed/hostile vibe he needs to have for Doc Cross Williams. Arnett, however, is much more difficult to imagine as a Western action hero. I’ve watched him for hours as Gob on Arrested Development, so I feel like I know him well. This seems like it is outside of his range. Although I would normally be super-psyched to hear that Arnett was in any film I was looking forward to, this casting decision has somewhat of a foreboding vibe to it. But, who knows, maybe Arnett will pull a Robert Downey Jr. come out of nowhere to prove he's bankable in a comic book adaptation.