Professor X, aka Patrick Stewart, will be making a complete turnaround for his next big screen role. Clearly the actor’s had enough of being Mr. Nice Guy, as he’s signed up for a dastardly part in Jeremy Saulnier’s bleak thriller, Green Room.
Stewart will be joining Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and Alia Shawkat, for what sounds like another grim atmospheric bit of grit. The story follows “a young punk rock band who find themselves trapped in a secluded venue after stumbling upon a horrific act of violence and fighting for their lives against a gang of white power skinheads intent on eliminating all witnesses.”
If you’re hoping that the good ol’ prof will be on hand to help the penniless musicians, think again. Stewart has opted to stretch his villainous chops as Darcy Banker, “the unflinching and industrial leader of a ferocious white supremacist fiefdom based in the Pacific Northwest.”
Yikes. That’s quite a role and indeed, a powerful story. It certainly sounds like a worthy follow-up to the director’s breakout hit. Saulnier’s brutal 2013 flick, Blue Ruin, turned a lot of heads in Hollywood for its harrowing depiction of an unlikely chap who returns home to act out a revenge plot. It looks like he’s keeping things in line with humanity’s darker elements once more.
What’s perhaps more exciting though is that the film will mark a definite change of alliance for Stewart, who’s most often cast in honest, do-gooder roles. I for one am looking forward to seeing him venture into murkier aspects of the human psyche.
Green Room is currently in production, with a release date scheduled for sometime in 2015.