R.I.P.D. moves toward production

The film adaptation of the Spawn-esque comic line and graphic novel R.I.P.D. has been casting and preparing for production over the last few months. Now the cast is nearly complete, with filming  about to begin.

Green Lantern’s Ryan Reynolds will be playing Nick Walker – renamed from Nick Cruz – a police officer killed in the line of duty who is subsequently assigned to the R.I.P.D. – the Rest in Peace Department.

The department is staffed by a team of late police officers and detectives who, as punishment for certain sins in life, are tasked with hunting down demons, fiends, lost souls and other ne’er-do-wells. 

Nick must play along with the department while he hunts down the fiend who framed and murdered him in life, his only chance for redemption and ascent.

Also on board are Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Stephanie Szostak, and, most recently, Mary-Louise Parker who has been tapped to play the part of the department chief, and thusly will spend most of her time explaining to Ryan Reynolds how the department works.

The original story is a bit abstract, and apparently the film reflects that.

“It’s going to be fun and strange,” said Bridges, whose character is Walker’s partner on his new beat. “This movie is really out there. We’re a couple of dead cops looking for dead people who are pretending to be alive.”

R.I.P.D. – directed by Robert Schwentke – will begin primary photography soon, and is slated to hit theaters in 2013.