Dafoe
Willem Dafoe has joined the cast of Revolution Studios' sequel "XXX: State of the Union," which Lee Tamahori begins lensing this summer.
Dafoe will play George Deckert, a five-star general and secretary of defense.
Revolution partner Todd Garneris overseeing the project at the studio with exec Derek Dauchy. Dafoe will next be seen in Fox Searchlight thriller "The Clearing" opposite Robert Redford. He also has starring roles in Emmett/Furla's "Control," Roger Spottiswoode's "White on White" and Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic" coming up.
First "XXX" installment starred Vin Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports star-turned-secret agent who battles international terrorists. Rob Cohen-helmed pic generated $142 million at the domestic B.O. in 2002.
In the sequel, Ice Cube stars as Darius Stone, a new XXX agent embroiled in thwarting a political power struggle in the nation's capital.
Samuel L. Jackson returns as National Security Agency agent Augustus Gibbons.
Tamahori ("Die Another Day") begins production on the film in July, around Los Angeles, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., directing from a script by Simon Kinberg.
Neal H. Moritz, who produced the first "XXX," also returns.
Pic is expected to bow May 13, 2005.
Contact Marc Graser at
marc.graser@variety.com