Metallica frontman James Hetfield has dabbled in acting in the past, most notably in the 2019 Netflix thriller, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.” The film followed the relationship of notorious criminal Ted Bunny (Zac Efron) and his girlfriend Lily Collins, who was unaware at the time of Bundy’s crimes.
Hetfield starred as officer Bob Hayward, a rough-and-tumble Utah highway patrol veteran who was the first cop to arrest Bundy in 1975 after pulling him over and discovering burglary tools in his car.
Now, Deadline has revealed that Hetfield has landed a role in “The Thicket,” an upcoming dark western thriller based on the novel of the same name. The film has started production, and is being produced by “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage.
Dinklage will star as Shorty, a bounty hunter hired to find a woman who has been kidnapped by a violent killer. The movie is set at the turn of the 20th century, and it follows Shorty and his fellow bounty hunters as they travel to the Big Thicket.
The film also stars Juliette Lewis (“Yellowjackets”), Esmé Creed-Miles (“Hanna”), Levon Hawke (“The Crowded Room”), Leslie Grace (“In The Heights”), Gbenga Akinnagbe (“The Old Man”), Macon Blair (“I Care A Lot”),Ned Dennehy (“Peaky Blinders”), Andrew Schulz (“Infamous”) and Arliss Howard (“Mank”).
Zac Efron gave high praise to Hetfield for his role in ““Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.”
“James Hetfield, to his credit, absolutely nailed the part, he just crushed it,” Efron said. “It’s like he’s been acting his own life. He had no fear. He did a great job. I was ready to maybe give James Hetfield [an acting] tip, but he didn’t ask for a single one. James Hetfield is the sh*t!”
A release date for “The Thicket” has yet to be announced.
Earlier this week, Metallica announced that they will hold a worldwide listening party for their upcoming album “72 Seasons” at select cinemas with every song on the album featuring its own music video and commentary from the band. Fans can visit metallica.film for ticket information for the one-night only event set for April 13.
