Ever since 2011 when producer Roy Lee revealed his intentions of rebooting ‘Poltergeist’, the project has had some long periods of silence. A few months after the initial announcement, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert of the ‘Evil Dead’ series (including the recent remake) signed on to produce. Now, in 2013, it looks as if the film is really starting to take off since Rosemarie DeWitt has recently been added to the cast as the female lead. But hers isn’t the only name being brought up in this conversation at the moment.

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Versatile actor Sam Rockwell is in early talks to join the remake of the classic horror film from Trobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg. With a script from ‘Oz: The Great & Powerful’ writer David Lindsay-Abaire and Gil Kenan directing the project, Rockwell is in line to play the patriarch of the Bowen family, whose daughter Madison is “abducted by supernatural forces that trap her in the netherworld between life and death”.

Word on the street is that the actor is very interested in working with Raimi, and he is the top choice of the studio and the filmmakers for the role. However, as a hot commodity in Hollywood, Rockwell does have a number of other offers, so he’s weighing his options at the moment and has not finalized anything yet.

Aside from appearing in amazing movies like ‘Moon’, ‘Galaxy Quest’, and ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’, Rockwell has appeared in two of the best films that I’ve seen all year: ‘The Way Way Back’ from Oscar-winning writers Jim Rash and Nat Faxon and ‘Trust Me’, the sophomore directorial effort from ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ star Clark Gregg, who also penned the script.

Since casting appears to be well underway for ‘Poltergeist’, we’re likely to get word of Rockwell’s final decision sooner rather than later. Hopefully, the actor feels up to the challenge of filling Craig T. Nelson’s shoes because any film that he takes part in automatically rises in awesomeness. The production could totally use some of this to give the film the extra oomph they need to stand out in the sea of remakes being churned out these days.

How would you feel about Sam Rockwell joining the remake of ‘Poltergeist’? Do you think that his star power will add a degree of appeal to this horror reboot? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Source: The Wrap