Joel Edgerton To Appear In Kathryn Bigelow's 'Kill Bin Laden'

Looks like the stars aligned for Joel Edgerton. The man who earned new fans though Animal Kingdom after years in the trenches was a possible lead for both The Bourne Legacy and Snow White and the Huntsman. But Bourne slipped his grasp and now he has passed on Snow White and the Huntsman. Instead he'll be a key part of the film being called Kill Bin Laden, which is the Kathryn Bigelow picture that focuses on a raid intending to take out the Al Qaeda leader.

The LA Times says that the Australian actor will play a special operative in the movie, and will be part of an ensemble cast portraying the commando/SEAL unit that targeted Bin Laden. He was mentioned as a possibility for the film earlier this week, and it's great to see indication that things are moving forward.

So what else do we know about the film? Not a lot at this point. It's the movie that was said to be a 'black ops thriller' when first discussed. Not long ago rumor surfaced that Bin Laden was an integral part of the film, but emails from writer and producer Mark Boal (who also fulfilled those roles on The Hurt Locker) seemed to kill that report.

But when Osama Bin Laden was reported killed this past Sunday, suddenly talk of this project intensified, and the Bin Laden angle was confirmed. More to the point, the original conception revealed for the movie was to follow an unsuccessful bid to take out the terror leader. Real life intervened, and we could well see a film with a 'happier' ending. We'll likely see a picture that includes a long sequence replicating the firefight in Pakistan that took out Bin Laden, but earlier this week it seemed like research and conversations were still ongoing. All I can say at this point is that, given that the killing of Osama Bin Laden is likely to be filmed soon by someone, I'd rather this be the team that does the work.

And this is great casting, and almost an ironic break for Joel Edgerton. He lost Bourne to Jeremy Renner, who probably wouldn't have his current career without The Hurt Locker. If things go well with Kill Bin Laden, Joel Edgerton could find himself in high(er) demand soon.