Adding to a busy schedule, THR is reporting that Liam Neeson (The A-Team) has signed on to portray the role of Admiral Shane in Peter Berg’s (The Kingdom) upcoming film version of the boardgame Battleship. The story will center on battles between Earth’s military and space invaders in the air, on land, and on the sea.
Neeson joins the already cast Taylor Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), model Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgard (HBO’s True Blood), and Rhianna in her acting debut. The film is set to be released May 18, 2012.
With a work schedule that makes him arguably our biggest action hero at the moment, I have to wonder if this role will be little more than a glorified cameo. Seriously, look at that cast and try to picture them acting on the same level as Neeson for even one scene. I realize from the description of the film this sounds like little more than Universal trying desperately to squeeze an Independence Day franchise out of a Hasbro boardgame, but still, the least they can they do is hire a model with acting experience to play Neeson’s daughter in the thing. Peter Berg is a director with some true skill behind the camera (Friday Night Lights, The Rundown, Hancock to a degree), so I really hope doing this job is a necessary evil to get financing for the next film that actually means something to him.