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When Farrell outed himself as the lead for True Detective earlier this week, we were stoked. Farrell's gritty vibe and sexy, scruffy look are perfect for the bleakness that is True Detective. We're not even sure he needs to stay sober for the role. Just disgruntled or slightly wry. HBO made the announcement today, though, that Vince Vaughn has also joined the cast. Our feelings on that move are much more mixed.
First and foremost, this seems out of his element. Vaughn is usually cast in comedies for a reason. He's a 6-foot 5-inch goofball. He's at his best as someone's drunken, buffoonish best friend... or as a complete (albeit funny) asshole. HBO describes Vaughn's character, Frank Semyon, as "a career criminal in danger of losing his empire when his move into legitimate enterprise is upended by the murder of a business partner." Can you imagine Vaughn as a hardened criminal running a slew of shady operations? Yeah, us, either. Unless this Frank character proves to be sort of a humorously curmudgeonly man, we just can't see this role. Hopefully Vaughn will surprise us, though, instead of ruining the show.
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We're also disappointed by the lack of females or Taylor Kitsch. Rumors have swirled for months about a long list of females that could join the cast. We even saw a few mentions of Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch in the mix to play a police officer. We fell pretty hard at the idea of Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss joining the cast when director Jeremy Lin made the suggestion. It's a little rough not to see those names in the press release.
We still have some hope, though. The show synopsis reads, "Three police officers and a career criminal must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder." That means we still have two more police officers to cast. All our hopes (and money) are riding on Moss and Kitsch for the roles. For now, though, we'll just have to learn to accept Vaughn. What do you think of the casting?