Taylor Kitsch has signed on to star in the “The Grand Seduction,” a remake of the Canadian film, “Le Grade Seduction.” Kitsch joins a cast that also includes Brendan Gleeson, Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones and Gordon Pinsent. Gleeson stars as a village resident who searches for a doctor, and when he finds one, portrayed by Kitsch, he does everything he can to convince the doctor to remain.
Kitsch joins the independent film following some of the biggest movie roles of his entire career.
“Friday Night Lights”
Kitsch made his name on the hit television series, “Friday Night Lights,” based on the Peter Berg film of the same name. While not a commercial hit, the show grew into one of the best critically acclaimed shows on television. Even when dropped by its network, the series still found life in other platforms, finishing its run on DirecTV.
From there, Kitsch got some small roles in movies like the chick flick “John Tucker Must Die,” the cult hit “Snakes on a Plane” and the supernatural thriller, “The Covenant.
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”
It looked like Kitsch might have found his new franchise when he took the role of Remy LeBeau in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Also known as Gambit, Kitsch played one of the most popular characters in the X-Men comics, which was good and bad for the young actor. While he did a great job with the role, some hard core fans still didn’t like how Remy was portrayed in the movie. The fact that “Wolverine” was a critical failure meant that Gambit was also dead in the water.
Another franchise possibility came when Kitsch took the role of John Carter in the movie based on the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel series, “John Carter of Mars.” The movie was great fun, but thanks to horrible marketing by Disney, it flopped at the box office. With “John Carter” considered one of the greatest failures in Disney history, there is little chance of Kitsch making a return to that franchise.
“Battleship”
Kitsch’s next big role was in Berg’s “Battleship.” This movie was doomed from the start, based on a Hasbro Bros. board game and mocked endlessly in the United States. Luckily, international audiences flocked to see the movie about the military naval units battling an alien invasion. While it ended up making good money overall, it was seen as a third strike for Kitsch in blockbusters.
Luckily, Oliver Stone noticed the young actor and cast him in the brilliant “Savages” and it looks like Kitsch is working on rebuilding his career in smaller movies. “The Grand Seduction” looks to be next for the star and things can only get better from here.
