Caffeinated Clint
Karl Urban – that’s Karl, not country croonin’ Keith – has snagged another plum role for himself.
The busy Kiwi actor – whose credits include "Doom", "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Riddick" – is close to inking a contract to headline "Pathfinder," a Viking epic being made by Phoenix Pictures and helmer Marcus Nispel, says The Hollywood Reporter.
"Pathfinder" is a remake of the 1987 Norwegian film by helmer Nils Gaup to which Phoenix acquired the rights to in 2001. While the original followed Norway’s warlike clans around the year 1000 A.D., the new version, with a script by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis ("Alexander"), is set in North America around the same time, when Vikings inadvertently discovered the continent 500 years before Columbus.
The story centers on a Viking boy who accidentally is left behind during a skirmish between the Vikings and Americans Indians. The American Indians raise the boy as their own, but when their village is wiped out in a Viking raid, the adopted Viking becomes his people’s defender in battling the Norsemen. Urban would play the adopted Viking.
"Pathfinder" is eyeing a Sept. 21 start and Vancouver shoot. The budget is about $30 million.
