DreamWorks Pictures
See? We told you guys to just wait – and, yes, we had to take that advice to heart, too – because, no matter what the addition of Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn to the True Detective second season roster meant, it didn’t mean that casting was over. Now, well, casting still isn’t over, but it’s getting there, and it’s certainly moving in a very nice direction.
Variety reports that, as has been rumored off and on for awhile now, Rachel McAdams has been offered one of four lead roles in the HBO series’ second season. The part will reportedly see McAdams playing “a Monterey sheriff with a troubled past that has led her to a gambling and alcohol addiction.” The part is one of three law enforcement types on the new season – Farrell is on board as one, Taylor Kitsch is still expected to play the other, and Vaughn is set to star as a “career criminal” – and it marks a very important step forward in the realm of complicated female characters on the small screen.
Variety shares a number of interesting details about the (seemingly sewn up, but still not totally official) casting of McAdams. Apparently, “it came down to scheduling, as insiders tell Variety McAdams was about to start filming Spotlight, the drama revolving around the Catholic Church sex scandal uncovered by the Boston Globe, and it was unknown whether dates could be worked out for McAdams to do that film and True Detective. Sources say that in the past 24 hours, a deal was worked out where the actress could do both projects.” It’s a Rachel McAdams revival!
Also – and this is quite compelling and more than a bit unexpected – the outlet reports that “sources say fans could have a similar response to the female lead as they did to Matthew McConaughey’s part as Rust Cohle in season 1.” So, abject fear, but total adoration? Now that’s something to get excited about. Perhaps McAdams’ character will come with her own brand of nihilism and kicky sayings (“space is a round rectangle,” or similar).
Although McAdams was the frontrunner for some time, other actresses were definitely in the mix, and Variety specifically mentions both Jessica Biel and Malin Akerman.
McAdams has already proven that she’s a versatile actress who, quite frankly, deserves more work. Sure, she’s done the Nicholas Sparks thing (it certainly helps that The Notebook is the best of the Sparks films), the rom-com thing (About Time, sniff sniff), the girl-doing-it-for-herself thing (Morning Glory) and that is just the tip of the resume iceberg, but she’s also shown an inky darkness in films like A Most Wanted Man and Passion. She just wrapped work on Antoine Fuqua’s boxing drama Southpaw (which apparently went so deep into gritty veracity that co-star Jake Gyllenhaal did all of his own boxing stunts), and Spotlight won’t be a picnic either. Is McAdams getting deeper into drama?
Truly, we have to use the clues to detect, why yes, she is, and that’s one hell of a smart move for the actress. (We are sorry.)
