In the last few years, it's difficult not to have felt slightly disappointed by Robert De Niro. Maybe it's just that he's not being offered great roles anymore, but it does slightly feel like he's choosing parts more because they're easy and offer a good payday than because he truly wants to make a brilliant movie.
The run of flicks where he appears to be doing this continues with the news that he's signed up for the movie The Killer Elite, alongside Clive Owen and Jason Statham. The film is about a a former British special forces member (Owen) who's being hunted by assassins, with Statham as Danny, a Navy SEAL who's forced out of retirement to help his friend. According to Moviehole, De Niro will play Hunter, the mentor and best friend of Danny. Hunter has been kidnapped by an Arab sheik who blackmails Danny into killing Harris (Lachy Hulme) in order to secure Hunter's release.
It's also been revealed that Aden Young, Firass Dirani and Ben Medelsohn, as well as Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski and Prison Break Dominic Purcell will star in the film, which started filming recently in Australia. It's certainly an interesting cast, and let's hope Bobby De Niro chose it because of that and the script, and not because the filmmakers said they'd pay for a nice holiday for him Down Under.