The career trajectory for Paula Patton is an interesting one to say the least. Always a great beauty, her big breakout came with the Outkast musical film, Idlewild, which led to her first hit mainstream effort starring opposite Denzel Washington in the awful Deja Vu. She hadn't really been required to display any actual acting prowess, however, until she shut up the critics(like yours truly) by stripping down her good looks and giving a powerful performance as a social worker in Precious. Last year she helped lead Jumping the Broom to surprising box office numbers before bulking up as part of Tom Cruise's team in Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol. Now it appears she's back to hanging out with her old friend Denzel as Deadline reports Patton is in talks to join the cast of 2 Guns.
Based on the Steven Grant comic, 2 Guns stars Washington and Mark Wahlberg as two men who take on robbing a bank that is actually a front for mob money. What both men are keeping from one another is their true identity, with each man working as an agent for a different branch of the government. Patton will play the love interest to Washington.
David O. Russell had been in line to direct at one point, but now Wahlberg's Contraband helmer, Baltasar Kormakur, is at the reins. Patton is the rare actress who combines both beauty and genuine physicality, although this doesn't sound like a role where she'll need much of the latter.
