Last we checked, Orlando Bloom had been offered the "bad guy" role in Paul W.S. Anderson's upcoming adaptation of The Three Musketeers. It seems it met his English standards, as Bloom has signed on for the role of the Duke of Buckingham. Fellow Brit, comedian James Corden, followed suit and will portray the servant Planchet. Bloom and Corden join a cast that already includes:
- Christoph Waltz --- Cardinal Richelieu
- Logan Lerman --- D'Artagnan
- Matthew MacFadyen --- Athos
- Ray Stevenson --- Porthos
- Luke Evans --- Aramis
- Milla Jovovich --- M'lady De Winter
- Mads Mikkelsen --- Rochefort
Hit the jump for more on how the race to the big screen is shaping up between this Summit/Anderson version and the competing Doug Liman adaptation of the swashbuckling novel over at Warner Bros.
With this much casting done, it looks more and more likely that Bloom and Corden have hopped on board the adaptation that will hit theaters first. Variety reports that Summit has slated a summer 2011 release in the U.S. for their Musketeers, and sold out all international rights this past week at Cannes. Meanwhile, casting is either not yet underway or tightly under wraps for the Liman-directed Musketeers. Warner Bros. has not thrown in the towel yet, with a planned fall start date for their production.
Here's the synopsis for the original Alexandre Dumas novel via Amazon:
A historical romance, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy, Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, and Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion.
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