If you were bummed to hear that Nicolas Cage had dropped out as the villain for Seth Rogen's Green Hornet movie, take heart. The movie didn't get screwed over; they traded in for an upgrade. According to Deadline Hollywood, Christoph Waltz has signed on to play the villain Chudnofsky.

Waltz, of course, is the Austrian actor who was the breakout star of Inglourious Basterds, playing the brilliant, conniving, and hilarious Nazi villain Hans Landa. It was obvious to everyone that Waltz would be making some big career decisions following that movie's success, but I'm not sure anyone expected him to rocket right up to comic book villain status.

The geeks who fell hard for Tarantino's movie must been even more thrilled that Waltz is venturing over into our world, and while cinephiles may be tempted to scoff at Waltz taking such a big-budget role, remember how much fun actors like Alfred Molina, Ian McKellen and Heath Ledger have had playing comic book baddies.

This also feels like a kind of reprieve for Green Hornet, which was plagued by a late shooting start, a casting process that dragged on forever, and then Cage dropping out. Perhaps Michel Gondry's film isn't plagued by bad luck after all. As Hans Landa might say, that's a bingo!