Mortsensen and Cronenberg sign for Eastern Promises 2

One of the greatest living actors is reteaming with one of the greatest living directors for a sequel to one of the best crime thrillers of recent years. Today is a good day.

I haven't seen David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, but I don't need to have seen it to know that it's grade-A badass: any film that features Viggo Mortensen as a Russian mob boss with full body tattoos, Vincent Cassell and a naked bath-house fight is okay by me. That ticks three of my boxes already. Also, in researching this article, I read a massive spoiler for the original, so I kind of don't need to watch it. No point. Waste of time.

Thought it may not seem like a project with franchise potential, Eastern Promises 2 is indeed in the works, with both Mortensen and Cronenberg on board. The script has already been written by original scribe Steve Knight, but there are no plot details yet, nor do we know about the involvement of Naomi Watts' character from the original.

I'm still silently furious that Viggo wasn't even Oscar-nominated for his performance in The Road but I reckon as he was nominated the last time he played Russian gangster Nikolai Luzhin, it's a pretty safe bet he'll get a pity nod this time. At least he will if the Academy have been getting my threatening letters. I wrote them in blood, but don't worry; I just had a fresh scab to pick.