Ridley Scott-Produced Halo Digital Feature Lands First Cast Member
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While most 76-year-olds are retired and settled into a more easygoing lifestyle, director Ridley Scott is waist-deep in one of the busiest stages of his career. Still in pre-production on his Biblical epic Exodus, Scott is also prepping the Egyptian sci-fi series Pharaoh for HBO, Blade Runner 2, a possible Prometheus 2 and a live-action digital feature based on the popular Xbox franchise Halo. One of those projects — you might be able to tell from the headline which one I’m talking about — just landed its first star.
According to TheWrap, The Good Wife star Mike Colter has signed on as a genetically enhanced super-soldier heading to war in the 26th century, but don’t go calling him Master Chief. (That guy is a real dick about being mistaken for others.) Colter will play Marlow, “a rising star in a futuristic army who is troubled by aspects of the military industrial complex he inhabits.” I can’t imagine what the downside to living in an always-at-war society would be. Less cable shows? Anyway, Marlowe will be a leader to his fellow men, and is known for handling battles with caution and logic. I’m guessing he’ll also have a muscle or two, and will be quick with the weapons.
Unfortunately for fans, there’s not much information about the project other than that character description. Co-producers Xbox Entertainment, 343 Industries, and Scott Free (Ridley’s production company) will divulge more details and additional cast members during this year’s E3 in June.
Don’t get this mixed up with the live-action Halo series that Steven Spielberg is producing for Xbox One (and/or possibly Showtime), because that’s its own entity. There is a small link, though, as this untitled feature’s director is sci-fi-friendly Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, who served as Spielberg’s first assistant director on movies like Minority Report and A.I.. Mimica-Gezzan is also experienced in the TV world, having helmed episodes of series such as Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies, and TNT’s upcoming mystery thriller The Last Ship. The Halo feature’s script was written by Prison Break and Zero Hour creator Paul Scheuring.
If you’re trying to think of where else you might know Colter from, it might be from small roles in Zero Dark Thirty or Men in Black 3, as seen in the picture above. He’s been all over the small screen in recent years, with recurring roles on series like Ringer, The Following, and American Horror Story. He’ll next be seen in the historical drama America Is Still the Place, and he also starred in the TNT pilot for Agent X with Sharon Stone.
This news isn’t as big or exciting as finding out that Halo 5: Guardians is a thing, since that was revealed today. But still, it probably means more to Colter.
