Common knowledge

Rapper cum actor in “Wanted” and “Watchman”

Common’s career’s doing OK.

The rapper cum actor – last seen in Joe Carnahan’s “Smokin’ Aces” – has snagged two movie roles; one in the Jolie/Freeman pic “Wanted” and another in “The Night Watchman” with Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, says The Hollywood Reporter.

“Wanted” centers on a white-collar worker (James McAvoy) who discovers he is the son of the most evil supervillain on Earth. When his father is assassinated, he inherits the dead man’s powers and begins life among the other supervillains (Freeman, Jolie and Common) who secretly control the planet.

Common will play the Gunsmith, an assassin with an unparalleled knowledge of firearms who is enlisted to help train and transform McAvoy’s character into the world’s most feared and powerful hit man.

In “Night Watchman,” Common will play Coates, a heroin dealer from Belize posing as an undercover police officer. The film is based on an original idea by James Ellroy and centers on a disgraced cop who discovers corruption inside the police department and sets out on a mission to redeem himself. David Ayer (“Harsh Times”) will helm the project from a Jamie Moss-penned rewrite.