It seemed things might be all over for Kevin Smith’s Hit Somebody when Sean William Scott left the movie to make a different ice hockey themed flick instead, Goon. However Smith has been putting things back together, a couple months ago casting little known Nicholas Braun as Scott’s replacement, after working with the young actor on Red State.
Now he’s got another Red State alum to sign up, Kyle Gallner. Cinema Blend pointed out the news, having heard it on Smith’s Red State of the Union Podcast. While Cinema Blend initially suggested that Gallner would play hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, the director has since taken to Twitter to point out that Gallner will play a ‘Gretzky-LIKE character, not actually Gretzky.’
The character is like Gretzky when he was young, just starting out and joining and NHL. However he won’t actually have too much to do until three-quarters of the way through the movie, when he becomes the lynchpin of the flick, representing everything that lead character Buddy McKraken (Braun) wants to be.
The movie is based on a Warren Zevon song, with lyrics by acclaimed writer Mitch Ablom, about a hockey enforcer who desperately wants to score just one goal in a hockey game.