The Hoeber Brothers script for Red must be downright brilliant because the movie now has nine talented actors on board.  In the beginning, there was Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman.  Then came Helen Mirren.  Then John C. Reilly and Mary Louise Parker joined the project.  Today comes the news that Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, and Brian Cox all want a piece of the action as well.  This is an epic cast which may indicate a much larger film than the plot synopsis has led us to believe.  Hit the jump to try and figure out the appeal or if this is just a massive Communist operation hiding in plain sight.

Based off the three-issue miniseries by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, Red centers on a former black ops agent (Willis), now in retirement, who has to contend with younger, more high-tech assassins who show up to kill him with the White House some how involved in this nefarious endeavor.  That's it.  It sounds like a fun story but I'm baffled out how it requires and obtains this kind of cast.

According to Heat Vision, McMahon would play a Vice President with a dark side who is at the center of a shadow conspiracy.  That sounds like miscasting because McMahon has such a trustworthy sneer.

As for the other three new cast members, Borgnine will play the keeper of the CIA's darkest records (I assumed they're organized in the archives by "dark", darker", "darkest"), while Dreyfuss will be a wealthy man who builds a fortune out of lucrative government contracts. Cox is a former Cold War spy and nemesis of Willis.  Note how none of these parts are the younger, more high-tech assassins.  Good God.

Red is set to begin shooting early next year with Robert Schwentke directing.  At this rate, we may be soon reporting who isn't in this movie.