Rainn, Ellen and Liv are Super

Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page and Liv Tyler have been cast in Super, the new project from writer/director James Gunn (Slither, PG Porn).

After Variety ran a piece on the news earlier, Gunn responded with more details on his personal blog, stating that he’s “never loved a screenplay more than Super and have been working on it for years.”

Rainn and I have been working together on the project for a few months now – Rainn will be playing the lead role of Frank D’Arbo who dresses up as a superhero called the Crimson Bolt; he’s got no superpowers other than a pipe wrench.  Rainn and I both worked hard to get the best possible folks involved.  We were lucky to get Ted Hope to produce – he’s done such movies as Happiness, The Ice Storm, The Savages, American Splendor, and 21 Grams. This is not a wacky, over-the-top comedy.  Super is a dark, comedic, gritty, very unusual, and grounded film and I think Ted is just the guy to help us get it done right.

He goes on to elaborate on Page and Tyler’s roles in the film:

Liv will be playing Sarah, Frank’s wife, who leaves him for a drug dealer, and Ellen will play the role of Libby, a young sociopath who dons a costume and forces herself into Frank’s life as his “kid sidekick.”

I think Gunn’s a very cool guy with a clear vision of what fans want from his films (Slither delivered on every horror front). I hope that Super is as distinct as Gunn hopes it will be. We’ve already witnessed the superhero deconstruction in films such as Watchmen, Hancock and the upcoming Kick-Ass.

More details as we get them. Keep your eyes peeled!