Looks like Forest Whitaker is gonna be dipping his feet in the genre pool pretty soon, one way or another.
The SPECIES/BATTLEFIELD EARTH/BODY SNATCHERS star who won an Oscar for playing Idi Amin Dada is in talks for both THE CROW reboot and STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY: ROGUE ONE. It’s possible he’ll be able to do them both: he’d play the sympathetic cop Albrecht in Corin Hardy’s comic reboot in the fall before jumping into an unspecified role in ROGUE ONE immediately after.
He just played the hero’s sympathetic cop frenemy in TAKEN 3, and Albrecht’s the kind of role Whitaker could inject nuance and humanity into in his sleep. He has my unequivocal approval as Ernie Hudson's successor.
As for who he’d play in ROGUE ONE, that’s anyone’s guess. I will say that among the current cast, which includes Ben Mendelsohn, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, and Riz Ahmed, Whitaker has the most star power; it’s weird to think of him as the Alec Guiness to this crop of younger talents, but that’s sort of where he’s at right now, status-wise. Maybe he’ll play a higher-up in the Rebel Alliance? Seems somewhat more likely than an Empire figure; no offense to Mr. Whitaker, but you don’t see a lot of overweight black fellas in those Nazi-inspired duds in either trilogy. I bet the Death Star’s affirmative action policies are for shit.
Whitaker can do really weird, interesting work when he’s committed, and if either of these roles are written well enough to give him room to do more than just amiably sleepwalk through, then either THE CROW or ROGUE ONE or both will be lucky to have him onboard.
Who would you want to see Whitaker play in ROGUE ONE? Porkins’ brother-from-another-mother? Yet another previously unheard-of Jedi/Sith figure? Or just a badass, lone wolf bounty hunter (my pick)?
STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY: ROGUE ONE will be standing by on December 16th, 2016.
