UPDATE: According to The Hollywood Reporter Common is also in negotiations to join Night Watch for Fox Searchlight. He would be joining Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker in the film in which he 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 will helm the project from a Jamie Moss-penned rewrite.

Common recently made his major film debut in a fun little movie I have pubbed quite a bit on the site called Smokin' Aces and it seems it was just a jumping off point as the rapper, who's real name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., will star in Ridley Scott's American Gangster later this year and has now earned a spot in Wanted for Russian helmer Timur Bekmambetov.

MTV scored the news, letting us know that Common will be starring alongside some big names including James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie in the film based upon Mark Millar's graphic novel series telling the story of a mama's boy named Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) who discovers that his recently deceased father was a top-notch supervillain. Discovering his own Jason Bourne-like skills at murder and mayhem, the newly empowered antihero sets out to become the next great bad guy under the tutelage of the Fox (Jolie), a Catwoman-like jewel thief. Freeman will play Sloan, a figure in the covert organization who recruits Gibson.

As for Common's part in the film he tells MTV, "My character in 'Wanted' is called the Gunsmith… I'm basically this dude that's a master at shooting guns. I'm training this gentleman that's coming in, who really has certain abilities but doesn't know it; I'm training him on how to be what he should be."

Common revealed he is flying to Prague next week to begin filming.

On top of Wanted, he also talks a lot about American Gangster, so click here for the full story.

Universal Pictures will release Wanted on March 28, 2008 and Universal is also handling American Gangster, which releases on November 2. The official site for American Gangster just went live and the pic below features Common circled in red along with Denzel Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Click the pic to check out the site and the new pics.

Related post categories: Movie News : Common, Street Kings, Wanted

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