Is MTV Movie Awards and Oscar nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor going from "12 Years A Slave" to James Bond villain? Allow us to explain in full, while you take the time to escape our cleverly constructed trap.
According to multiple sources — though so far unconfirmed by Sony and MGM studios — Ejiofor is in talks to play the bad guy in Sam Mendes follow-up to "
To fans who only know Ejiofor for his literally tortured, yet heroic role as Solomon Northup in "12 Years," this move might seem a left turn in the actor's career. Yet there's three big reasons this isn't as unbelievable a move as it might initially sound. First of all, there's the long history of British actors following up their critical acclaim by taking on roles as bad guys in American action films. Look no further than Gary Oldman, who went from playing a key role in "JFK," to portraying Dracula. Or Michael Caine, who has alternated Oscar-nominated roles with appearances in shlock movies like, "On Deadly Ground." More to the point for Ejiofor, though: he's already portrayed multiple soulful assassins and villains in films already. In the cult favorite "Serenity," he was The Operative, an unstoppable killer bent on preventing the crew of Joss Whedon's spaceship drama from releasing government secrets throughout the galaxy. That same year he was a vicious mob boss in "Four Brothers," while the next year in "Children of Men," he was a member of a militant immigrant rights group who nearly kills our heroes. The third reason ...
