Mark Ruffalo may have lined up his next big role, and it would be quite the change from what he’s been up to in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of late in movies like Avengers: Endgame. The actor is said to be up for one of the lead roles in HBO’s Parasite TV series, which is currently in the early stages of development. Undoubtedly, given the big night the movie had at the Oscars, it has just moved up on the network’s priority list, which makes this potential casting all the more interesting.
According to a new report, Mark Ruffalo is being eyed as a series lead for the Parasite TV show. At present, it isn’t clear who he would be playing, as the movie is going to be adapted for English-speaking audiences and will be a relatively loose interpretation of Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning thriller. It’s suggested Ruffalo could take on a part that mirrors the one Song Kang-ho played in the movie as the head of a lower-income family. HBO did pour a little cold water on the report with a statement, but they certainly didn’t deny that Ruffalo is in the mix.
“The HBO limited series inspired by Parasite is in the early stages of development, and to speculate on any characters or casting is wildly premature.”
This would make for a potentially great start for the HBO limited series. Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice) is heading up the creative team alongside Bong Joon-ho. It’s expected that Parasite will run for five or six episodes. The movie centered on a lower-income family who infiltrates an upper-class household, which comes with surprising consequences.
Parasite found near-universal praise from critics and was nominated for six Academy Awards. Ultimately, the South Korean thriller took home four of the night’s biggest prizes, including Best Picture, which served as one of the more surprising Oscar wins in recent memory. The movie also won for Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. It has also proved to be a very solid financial success, having earned $165 million at the global box office. With that, HBO will surely be eager to get this project moving sooner rather than later. But they also probably aren’t going to rush things, as they will need to maintain a certain level of quality to justify redoing the heralded story.
As for Mark Ruffalo, aside from starring as Hulk in the MCU, he’s an acclaimed actor who has been nominated for three Oscars in the past for his work in The Kids Are All Right, Foxcatcher and Spotlight. Some of his other credits include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter IslandNow You See Me and last year’s Dark Waters. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as any further details on the project are made available. This news comes to us via Collider.
