Calling All Fanboys, Tron 2.0 Tracks Down Star

Wed., Jan. 7, 2009 7:35 AM PST by Josh Grossberg

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images, Walt Disney Pictures

The sequel to Tron is ramping up on the casting front.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, relative unknown Garrett Hedlund has been tapped to topline Disney's follow-up to the 1982 cult classic that will also see original star Jeff Bridges return in a cameo.

In Tron (which will retain the name of the first entry despite being a sequel), the 24-year-old Hedlund will play a man who gets sucked into the computer universe, retracing the footsteps of Bridge's computer programmer character. Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett costar.

Hedlund's credits include Troy, Eragon, Four Brothers with Mark Wahlberg and Terrence Howard and Georgia Rule with Lindsay Lohan.

Mickey Rourke, Kelsey Grammer and Darth Vader round out the day's other top casting news...

• Comeback kid Rourke is, per Variety, joining the cast of The Expendables, an action-adventure directed and starring Sylvester Stallone. Rourke will play a crooked arms dealer who's the point man for a group of mercenaries out to topple a South American dictator. Forest Whitaker and Ben Kingsley are in talks to join an ensemble that also features Jet Li, Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren.

• Old and new Captain Kirks (William Shatner, Chris Pine) and Darth Vaders (James Earl Jones, Hayden Christensen) lead the voice cast for the 3-D animated space-based Quantum Quest. Also lending their pipes: original moon walker Neil Armstrong, Amanda Peet, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Alexander, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Abigail Breslin and Spencer Breslin.

• Grammer is heading back to the tube in an untitled half-hour comedy about a powerful tycoon who reunites with his family after losing his job. The Frasier star most recently appeared on TV with Patricia Heaton in the Fox sitcom Back to You, which was canceled last season.

• Finally, newcomer Amy Gumenick will play the title role in Lifetime's upcoming riped-from-the-headlines TV movie The Natalee Holloway Story.