You may associate Jeremy Irons with his role as the villainous Simon Gruber from Die Hard: With a Vengeance, or perhaps the just-as-villainous lion Scar in The Lion King. More recently, he’s been playing the scheming and corrupt Rodrigo Borgia in Showtime’s drama The Borgias. Irons may be lending his substantial talent to the film adaptation of Beautiful Creatures.
Based on a novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures tells the story of teenagers Ethan and Lena, two star-crossed lovers “who uncover dark secrets about their families, their history and their town.” Richard LaGravenese is set to direct the adaptation, while Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, Thomas Mann, Jack O’Connell, and Alice Englert are already on board to star.
Deadline shared the announcement today that Jeremy Irons is in final negotiations to join the cast of the movie. Assuming all goes as planned, he’ll play the role of Macon Ravenwood, Lena’s uncle, who’s described as mysterious and recluse. While Irons does play a mean villain, it’s difficult to tell from that description if that’ll serve him well in this role. Fans of the books may have a better take on that. In the meantime, “mysterious” and “recluse” sound like traits the British actor is certainly capable of handling.
Filming for the movie is set to begin next month in and around New Orleans.
