Josh Brolin replaces Sean Penn in ‘Cartel’
Josh Brolin cast in upcoming drama for Universal Pictures
With Sean Penn out, Josh Brolin will star in the Asger Leth-directed drama, Cartel, from Universal Pictures.
Penn left the project in June to spend more time with his family. His departure also left a gap in the upcoming Farrelly Brothers comedy The Three Stooges to which I say “hoorah.”
Cartel and Stooges are two out of five projects that the Oscar-winning actor abandoned.
Brolin will play a character hell-bent on protecting his son after his wife is brutally murdered by a Mexican drug cartel. The drama is inspired by the ‘93 Italian film La scorta by director Ricky Tognazzi. The film followed four cops who struggle to “guard a special prosecutor trying to bring mob bosses to justice.”
Production on Cartel begins in January in beautiful Mexico City with a script from Peter Craig.
Brian Grazer (Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind) is producing.
