We reported two weeks ago that the film version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy had begun casting. Martin Freeman (The Office) will play hero Arthur Dent, with Bill Nighy as alien architect Slartibartfast. Well, there’s more news today. Mos Def will play Ford Prefect, the alien researcher for esteemed intergalactic publication The Hitchhiker’s Guide, who has grown used to life on Earth.
A curious choice and one we can't help but be a little worried about - while he may be an alien, Ford Prefect is most definitely English, by George! Empire Online always saw him as more of a Richard E. Grant type than a Brooklyn-born Hip hop artist. Still, Def is one of the better rappers-turned-actors - he did reasonably well in The Italian Job remake - so don't despair just yet.
More encouragingly, indie queen Zooey Deschanel has signed on to star as Trillian, girlfriend of the two-headed, three armed President of the Galaxy, Zaphrod Beeblebrox. Deschanel isn’t exactly a household name, but she starred in Elf and Almost Famous and is steadily making her way out of the indie niche towards mainstream stardom.
The film now is set to start shooting in London this April.
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?story=5318
I agree with you on that.
Although, I like that it has some lesser stars in it and Martin Freeman does seem to be a good fit for Arthur.