Hemsworth Replaces Tatum In “Kockroach”

“Thor” and “Furiosa” star Chris Hemsworth will join Taron Egerton and Zazie Beetz in the New York-set crime feature “Kockroach”.

The story follows a mysterious stranger who takes on New York’s criminal underworld, transforming himself into a larger-than-life crime boss in a city where power is everything.

Said to be in the style of “Goodfellas” and “Scarface,” Andrew Lazar (“American Sniper”) is producing the feature which Tatum had to bow out of due to scheduling conflicts.

Matt Ross (“Captain Fantastic”) directs from a script by Jonathan Ames (“You Were Never Really Here”) with revisions by Ross. The project is based on the novel by William Lashner.

Also onboard are production designer Colin Gibson (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (“True Detective: Season 1”) and VFX Supervisor Jonathan Dearing (“The Invisible Man”).

Christina Weiss Lurie (“Persuasion”) will also produce with Black Bear to sell international rights at the upcoming EFM.

The hiring comes as Hemsworth has “Crime 101” hitting cinemas next week and has given a revealing interview with The Guardian.

In it he says both playing and building his body for Thor acted as a safety net that allowed him to project confidence and certainty not just on screen but in interviews for the past decade-and-a-half. In reality, the now 42-year-old actor says he’s “far more uncomfortable and goofy”. His “Crime 101” director Bart Layton says this real Hemsworth is someone “thoughtful and sensitive and insecure in the way we all are”. First reactions to “Crime 101” started trickling out yesterday and are highly praising it as an intelligent old school heist thriller.

Source: Deadline