Bruce Willis playing Kane. Is Billy Bob Thornton Lynch?

Breaking news in Variety... Bruce Willis is confirmed to play Kane in Lionsgate's movie based on "Kane and Lynch."

I was a really big "Kane and Lynch" fan (if it only had online co-op it would have been one of my favorites of the 2007), and was particularly into the characterization and story, so I think it has real potential to be a solid movie.

It's also interesting to see Lionsgate taking it on. The studio is typically known for low budget stuff, but it's my understanding this will be their biggest movie to date. Bruce Willis doesn't come cheap, you know.

Now that we know Willis is the grizzled Kane, the question is who'll play the psychotic sidekick Lynch? Rumors for a while have been that Billy Bob Thornton would play the role, which is pretty much perfect casting as far as I'm concerned -- Willis and Thornton even look the parts. But according to Variety's ace film reporter Michael Fleming (who helped me break the "Bioshock" story last month), the studio still hasn't set anyone. Which means either that Billy Bob isn't close to having a deal or he's not going to do it and they're looking for someone else.

In other videogame-based movie casting news, Alfred Molina and Ben Kingsley are joining Jake Gyllenhaal in Disney's "Prince of Persia," Which makes sense, since they're probably the two most prominent older actors in Hollywood who can easily play Persian.

Related links:
-Willis Game for "Kane and Lynch" (hey, I don't write the headlines)
-Alfred Molina joins "Prince of Persia"
-Universal doing Bioshock movie, Gore Verbinski directing
-Variety's review of "Kane and Lynch: Dead Men"