Let's get to a bit of casting news today:

  • Dennis Haysbert (24) will join Sin City: A Dame to Kill For as a replacement for Michael Clarke Duncan, who sadly passed away this past September. The sequel, directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, also stars Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Rosario Dawson and Jamie Chung. 
  • Timothy Olyphant (Justified) will join the horror-Western Bone Tomahawk, the directorial debut of S. Craig Zahler that already stars Kurt Russell, Peter Sarsgaard, Richard Jenkins and Jennifer Carpenter.
  • Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom) and Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) will join the Australian production of the thriller Cut Snake, also starring Rachael Taylor (Transformers).

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

First up from Heat Vision comes word that Haysbert is in negotiations to join Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. One of the plotlines for the sequel features a man named Dwight twisted up with a femme fatale named Ava. Haysbert would step into the shoes Duncan filled in the original film by playing Manute, the brutal and seemingly unstoppable right hand man of Ava’s husband. Here's what Rodriguez had to say about the character:

"Manute is a character that has been part of the heart of the Sin City tales and the late Michael Clarke Duncan beautifully established that role on screen. We could not tell the story of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For without Manute and are thrilled to welcome Dennis Haysbert to the cast."

Shooting will continue in Austin intermittently through December with a full push starting in January.

Deadline reports that Olyphant will join Bone Tomahawk as John Brooder, a silver-tongued sharpshooter who took up his guns and moved to the frontier to satisfy his inner demons. Written by Zahler, the picture centers on a group of four men who attempt to rescue the captives of a band of primitive cannibals. Production is on schedule to start this Spring in New Mexico.

Deadline also reports that Stapleton and Kwanten will star in Cut Snake, directed by Tony Ayres (The Home Song Stories) from a Blake Ayshford (All Saints) script. Based on a real-life incident that claimed 15 lives when Brisbane's Whiskey Au Go Go restaurant went up in flames in 1973, Cut Snake centers on two ex-cons who are responsible for sparking the blaze. Stapleton will play the man who gets out of jail and tries to convince Kwanten's character, who is about to marry his girlfriend and is trying to lead a good life, to commit one more robbery with him. The pic is expected to shoot mid-2013.