8:30AM PDT 10/27/16 by Mike Fleming Jr.
DEADLINE EXCLUSIVE: Catherine Keener has joined the cast of Soldado, the Lionsgate- and Black Label Media-financed second installment of the drug war thriller that began with 2015’s Sicario. Gomorra helmer Stefano Sollima is directing the film, which was scripted by Sicario scribe Taylor Sheridan.
The sequel focuses on Alejandro Gillick, the shadowy, Man on Fire-like protagonist played by Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin’s CIA agent Matt Graver, who in the first film established themselves as hellbent on hunting down cartel kingpins, no matter what. Keener will play Brolin’s boss, trying to navigate the gray area that Gillick and Graver live in as the tale turns to what else is being smuggled across the border between Mexico and the U.S. in the tunnels used to move drugs and illegal immigrants. Those tunnels also can be used to bring terrorists into the U.S.
The sequel is being produced by Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk, Black Label’s Molly Smith and Thad and Trent Luckinbill, and Edward McDonnell.
Keener, who recently starred in the HBO mini Show Me a Hero, next stars with Chloe Grace Moretz and Ansel Elgort in the Sacha Gervasi-directed November Criminals from Sony Pictures and the Jordan Peele-directed Blumhouse/Universal pic Get Out, coming February 24. She’s repped by Gersh.
Source: DEADLINE