Michael Rooker is always a welcome addition to any film, which means that Michael Matthews' (FIVE FINGERS FOR MARSEILLES) upcoming MONSTER PROBLEMS just got a lot more interesting.
Deadline has reported that Michael Rooker (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) has joined the cast of the upcoming film which is also set to star Dylan O'Brien (THE MAZE RUNNER). The script by Brian Duffield (JANE GOT A GUN) and Matthew Robinson (THE INVENTION OF LYING) is said to be a coming-of-age story about a young man by the name of Joel Dawson who lives in a post-apocalyptic world which has been overrun by monsters. Naturally, Dylan O'Brien is slated to play Joel, with Michael Rooker set to play Clyde, an expert hunter who teaches the young man how to survive the monster apocalypse. Sounds like it could be fun. If MONSTER PROBLEMS feels at all familiar to you, that's because the project goes all the way back to 2012 when Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) scooped it up. At the time, the project was described as "a post-apocalyptic road movie in the vein of Mad Max and Zombieland with a John Hughes-esque love story at its center." No word on if that's still the case, but Shawn Levy is still set to produce what is being set up as a potential franchise.
Michael Rooker was recently seen in the third season of HBO's True Detective and will also have a role in Blumhouse's upcoming FANTASY ISLAND, a darker take on the '70s TV show of the same name which stars Michael Pena as Mr. Roarke. That film is set for a February 28, 2020 release.