Despite the ongoing setbacks this production has been facing, the producers and stars have been soldiering on, determined to make a great movie. And now, despite having a potential cast member in the form of Nicolas Cage dropping out of the film, they have a new reason to celebrate.

After surprising everyone this year with his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Christophe Waltz, AKA Hans Landa, has been cast as the villain Chudnofsky, a gangster who makes things troublesome for our hero. This is definitely good news to all the fans who were worried this film was in trouble. Waltz completely stole the show in his villainous “Jew Hunter” role and is basically a lock for a Best Supporting Actor Nomination. I believe this will make the film even more enjoyable than what it would have been before.

The Green Hornet is set for a December 17, 2010 release and also stars Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Jay Chou, Edward James Olmos, and Tom Wilkinson, and is being directed by Michael Gondry.

Today’s entry will look at two recent casting announcements for, coincidentally, villain roles in upcoming projects. Neither of these are particularly new stories, but they still have just as much sting as when they were first reported.

First up, The Green Hornet film has been running into a few roadblocks, to say the least. Stephen Chow recently dropped out as director and as the actor taking on the role of the Green Hornet’s sidekick, Kato. Fans were understandably nervous about the future of this Seth Rogen-starring movie. A lot of them, like myself, possibly became even more nervous after the villain was announced. It seems that Nicolas Cage will be going toe-to-toe with our hero, and I can’t help but wonder, of all actors, why him? Sure, Cage has done some great works … once upon a time. But I do believe the time of this actor has come and gone. After a string of once-a-year flops for the last three or four years, why do producers continue to think that he is still a hot property? Granted, I have not seen Knowing, and I am told it was great. But my faith in his acting ability has seriously diminished over the last few years. But I am up for being proven wrong with this casting choice.

And now, here is the really stupid one. And by that I mean I can honestly feel brain cells dying as I’m writing this article. It was announced a few months ago that a new version of the classic tale Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was going into production soon. Who would be playing Jekyll? Why, Forest Whitaker, of course. I will admit, I can actually see that. Whitaker is a fantastic actor and he could easily pull that role off. However, when it came to the role of Mr. Hyde, I thought that studio execs would understand just how important a role that was considering the person who plays it must not only, you know, act well, but also be able to pull off pure evil. Well, I recently discovered I was dead wrong in assuming that.

Reported as only a rumor for months, it was confirmed last week that the role of Mr. Hyde would go to … rapper 50 Cent. Yes, you read that correctly. 50 fucking Cent will be the foil to Forest Whitaker. The guy has only been in, like, five films, all of which he was terrible in, and the studio is willing to possibly throw this movie away because of him? I’m sorry, all two of you that are fans of his acting, but the guy sucks. He should just stick to rapping and having battles with Kanye West.

It’s times like this when I wonder how some of these studio execs still have jobs. Or that no one around them is saying, “You know, this might not be a good idea.” I honestly can’t help but think, “Really?! WTF Hollywood?!”