Actor Demian Bichir is likely to make waves when more people start seeing his performance in Chris Weitz’s drama A Better Life when it opens on June 24, and Oliver Stone must have been duly impressed as he’s added the actor to his ensemble cast for Savages, his adaptation of Don Winslow’s novel which will start filming on July 6.
Bichir, who played Fidel Castro in Steven Soderbergh’s Che and is known for playing Mary-Louis Parker’s love interest on her hit show “Weeds,” would play a two-timing lawyer named Alex who works for a Mexican drug cartel run by Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro.
They’re just part of an impressive ensemble including Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch as California marijuana kingpins forced to work for that drug cartel after one of their girlfriends (played by Blake Lively) is kidnapped. The cast also includes John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Emile Hirsch.
Author Don Winslow has already been tapped to write a prequel to his bestselling novel for Simon & Schuster.
