Kevin James plays against type and delivers an impressive performance as the neo-Nazi villain in directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion's very cool "ultra violent HOME ALONE" thriller BECKY (WATCH IT HERE) – but while speaking to Newsday, James addressed the fact that he wasn't originally supposed to play the villain in the film. When he was cast, it was for the role Joel McHale ended up playing:
I feel like I relate to a lot of people as the common guy. But when you do that a lot, what happens is half of your audience wants to see more of that and the other half is like 'I've seen that. Let’s see him do something different.' I got this script and it was so out of left field. Originally, I was going to play the father of the daughter and Simon Pegg was going to play the villain. Then Simon had a scheduling conflict. So they had to recast the part. We came up with the idea, what if I do that part? I just went for it."
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While it's always good to see Simon Pegg in a movie, the idea of him playing the villain in BECKY isn't nearly as interesting as it was to see James step out of his comfort zone to play the character. The father would have been a surprising role for James in its own way, but the movie benefited from the casting shake-up.
Written by Nick Morris, Ruckus Skye, and Lane Skye, BECKY centers on
spunky and rebellious Becky (Lulu Wilson), who is brought to a weekend getaway at a lake house by her father Jeff (Joel McHale) in an effort to try to reconnect. The trip immediately takes a turn for the worse when a group of convicts on the run, led by the merciless Dominick (James), suddenly invade the lake house.
If you haven't watched BECKY yet, it's definitely worth checking out. Our reviewer The Iceman gave it a 9/10.
