8/22/2011
Djimon Hounsou is the angel of death in Paradise Lost
In Milton's 17th century biblical novel, Paradise Lost, the angel Abdiel is the one who denounces Satan upon hearing him incite revolt amongst the other angels. He then proceeds to kick ass as a part of God's heavenly army, killing not only Satan himself, but a bunch of other dirty winged seraphs along the way. So yeah, if somebody's gonna play the guy who stood in the face of Satan, it'd better be somebody strong, a little bit fearsome, but also exudes character. I think I know the guy! How about Djimon Hounsou?
Showblitz reports Honsou's addition to Paradise Lost, the massive, special effects laden event film from Alex Proyas(Knowing, Dark City). Honsou will play Abdiel the angel of Death, paired up opposite Bradley Cooper as Lucifer and Benjamin Walker as Michael. Shooting is set to kick off soon, but we likely won't see the film until sometime in 2013 due to the heavy effects needed to be added in post-production. We're talking like a year of post work being done on this thing.
Hounsou has long been one of my favorite actors, although I remember thinking at the time of his break out in 1997's Amistad that he'd end up a great one-hit wonder. Bad call on my part. Since then he's grown from being just a powerful presence as a supporting player, but a legitimate leading man. Two Academy Award nominations(In America, Blood Diamond) will do that for ya.