With the heroes of Colin Trevorrow's upcoming Jurassic World in place, actors Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard attached to play the male and female lead roles, now the production has turned its attention towards finding an antagonist, and today they have enlisted their big bad. Vincent D'Onofrio, according to Deadline, has officially signed on to play the main human villain in the upcoming dinosaur-filled epic.
In addition to D'Onofrio, Life of Pi actor Irrfan Khan has also come aboard the project, though his role has not been specified. At this point we really don't have any firm character details, but that's probably because every element of the script is being kept under wraps right now. Trevorrow, who will directing the movie as his follow-up to the indie sci-fi comedy Safety Not Guarenteed, wrote the script for the new project with Pat Crowley.
D'Onofrio, of course, has been a terrific go-to character actor since the 80s, breaking out thanks to his eternally memorable performance as Pvt. Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (so we know he can play crazy). In recent years he has been as well known for his TV work as his film appearances, as he spent a decade playing Detective Robert Goren on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. His biggest film last year saw him sharing the screen with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in Escape Plan, but he has many more films coming out in 2014. He recently completed filming the dramedy The Judge with Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, but also has the Pele biopic coming out this year as well as the Liam Neeson thriller Run All Night.
Khan, meanwhile, was introduced to most of the American audience thanks to his role in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, but he has taken on multiple high-profile projects since then. In addition to the aforementioned Life of Pi, he also got some blockbuster experience back in 2012 when he played an OsCorp employee in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man. He continues to split his acting time between Hollywood and his home country of India, and Jurassic World looks to be his next big project Stateside.
Jurassic World is being made by Universal Pictures and has been set for release on June 12, 2015. Production is scheduled to begin in the next few months, and you can read about everything that's happening with the movie right HERE. I personally couldn't be more pumped by all of these casting announcements, as Trevorrow seems to be putting together a group of incredibly talented performers. Now, if you'll excuse me, I plan on humming the Jurassic Park theme in my head for the rest of the day. Care to join me?
