John Hamm is an actor I know better from his online comedy work (he’s done a few great Funny Or Die sketches) than his film work. I’ve yet to jump on the Mad Men train and I never caught The Day The Earth Stood Still. I’ll definitely be seeing Hamm in Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch –the cast of which he has just joined– but that’s not till 2011. Maybe I’ll grab a Mad Men DVD by then.

Jon Hamm joins a cast that, until recently, was made up entirely of ladies- ladies like Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens (of bathroom nudity fame), Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, and the wonderful (if sometimes droopy-necked) Carla Gugino.

Sucker Punch’s story is often described as a crazy sort of Alice In Wonderland: In the 50s, a girl is sent to an insane asylum by her evil stepfather, and is set to be lobotomized. While imprisoned, she imagines a fantasy world (seriously- Orcs, WWII soldiers, dragons, and more have been specifically mentioned) where she sets off on a quest to retrieve five special objects. The women around her in the prison, as well as figures from her life double as characters in the fantasy world.

…so a quest to retrieve specific objects in a personal fantasy world where characters represent real-world people? Sounds more like Wizard of Oz territory to me. Jon Hamm, who is obviously no stranger to period pieces, may be playing the evil stepfather, or a warden type figure that will more than likely be appearing in the fantasy world as well. His name will “High Roller,” though I would imagine that is a fantasy world title.

Snyder promises to bring us a “dark,” “hardcore,” “fucking actiony,” and “smart” movie, that coasts along the very edges of a PG-13 rating. I have no doubts that Snyder can deliver on all of it. That this is an original script makes it even more exciting.

Source | THR

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