Anton Yelchin Cast As ‘Odd Thomas’

Anton Yelchin, Star Trek’s new Chekov, continues to be in high demand in Hollywood. Today there is a new report that Yelchin has been tapped to play the lead in the genre thriller Odd Thomas, details below.  

 

Anton Yelchin Cast As ‘Odd Thomas’

News on the latest Yelchin casting comes from Shock Till You Drop, who are reporting that Anton Yelchin has been cast to play the lead in Odd Thomas, an adaptation of a Dean Koontz best-selling supernatural thriller. The film, to be directed  G.I. Joe helmer Stephen Sommers is said to be in pre-production now.

The novel is the first in a series, so if the film is successful, Yelchin could have himself another franchise on his hands. Here is the plot summary via deankoontz.com.

“The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo’s sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it’s different. A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world’s worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a
page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.

Today is August 14.


Anton Yelchin to be Koontz’s Odd Thomas

This is the second recent outing for Yelchin in the horror-esque genre. The actor recently finished up production on Fright Night, a remake of the 1985 vampire film of the same name. And Fright Night is only one of five films with Yelchin coming out in 2011.

 

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This seems like good casting to me.

The first Odd Thomas book was great.

The 2nd was terrible.

The third was better, but still as not as good as the first.

There is also a graphic novel featuring Odd Thomas. Haven’t read it though.

Definitely looking forward to the Odd Thomas movie!

So, stay away from the Even Odd Thomas?

That is a cool premise. I haven’t read any Dean Koontz but I like what stuff of his has gotten to the screen, like Phantoms, and this sounds good too.

I am a huge Deen Koontz fan and see a lot of his books being really awesome movies. This one will be great, if done properly. I think Yelchin is a really good actor, who just needs to work in more experience, before he is great. Totally loved him in Star trek and Terminator. I hop he does great things with Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas is a fantastic novel, but I don’t see how they can film it without giving away the ending (the narrator admits he lied, but how do you do that in a movie?) And Elvis might be hard to film, too.

The novels are “Odd Thomas”, “Brother Odd”, and “Odd Hours”. I didn’t care at all for Brother Odd, either.

For anyone interested Odd Thomas got his name because his birth certificate has a typo for Todd Thomas and his whack-job Mom just went with it..

This is good casting; I can picture Yelchin as Odd.

I’ve found the entire series so far to be enjoyable, but agreeing with comments above, Yes, the first novel was far superior to the rest. Not being a big fan of Koontz over the years, Odd Thomas was so good, I actually wondered if it was ghostwritten (no pun intended).

Yelchin is a great choice to play Odd. I had never read a Dean Koontz novel until I picked up “Odd Thomas” on a whim. It’s a really great quick read.

I have to agree with Danpaine that it is superior to the rest of the books in the series thus far.

6… Too many of Koontz’s books seems to be about sadistic/possessed/crazed serial killers running loose. I think his best books are those he wrote about something besides crazed serial killers. “Watchers” is my favorite.

“Demon Seed” was quite a good read, even the movie adaptation was not too bad. And not a crazed serial killer in sight… :-)

“Lightning” is my all-time Koontz fave and if done properly, would make a fantastic movie!

I seem to remember a majority of people not liking Yelchin’s Chekov but his performance, and take on the character was my favorite part of the Star Trek movie.

I remember reading the first book on a plane back home from my bachelor party in Vegas, doing my absoulet best not to cry. lol I’ve never had a book do that to me.

As for the second, 6 chapters in I threw it across the room. It was sooo disappointing. I ended up finishing it but it was just terrible.

Never read the 3rd and 4th books. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Koontz is a fine author, or at least was. He’s got such a thing for dogs and small California towns that it’s just getting old to see them in all his books.

Yeah, I forgot there is a fourth book, the third, “Forever Odd”.

I love most Koontz work but “Odd Thomas” is not one of them.

Don’t know if the graphic novel is a re-do of the first novel’s plot, or a stand-alone story.

I too am guilty of forgetting there was four novels in the series. Four plus the graphic novel. I’ve read them all too (except the graphic novel). I only strongly object to the second. The others were good, while the first one was great.

I hadn’t thought about filming the ghost of Elvis–that could indeed be tricky. Perhaps several actors, as he appears at various stages of his life, if my faulty memory serves. 50’s dreamboat idol, Early 70s rockin’-prime Elvis, and perhaps a late 70s bloated version.

Or just get James Cawley!

Anton is a great actor didn’t really picture him as odd though.

@dmduncan: “A lot of movies”? You mean the straight to TV Intensity? Cuz that’s all there is, bro.