Irish actor offered lead role.
Wicklow-native Jack Reynor, who burst on the scene earlier this year with Lenny Abrahmson’s brilliant ‘What Richard Did,’ has reportedly been offered a lead role opposite Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s forthcoming ‘Transformers 4.’
According to IFTN, the 20-year-old actor auditioned three times before being offered the part by Bay himself, who was said to have been swayed by Reynor’s performance in ‘What Richard Did.’ Paramount Pictures is expected to make an official announcement in the coming days.
Brenton Thwaites (‘Maleficent’), Hunter Parrish (‘Weeds’), Luke Grimes (‘Taken 2’), and Landon Liboiron (‘Terra Nova’) are among the other actors who tested for the part.
‘Transformers 4’ will mark Reynor’s second major Hollywood role, having just wrapped on the Ken Scott-directed comedy ‘The Delivery Man,’ in which he stars alongside Vince Vaughn, Cobie Smulders and fellow Irish actor Simon Delaney.
Reynor is nominated for Young British & Irish Performer of the Year in the London Film Critics’ Circle, to be held on January 20.
UPDATE
Bay has confirmed Reynor’s casting with the following statement:
“I just hired a great new actor for Transformers 4 to star against Mark Wahlberg. Jack Reynor, he is an Irish kid that came to America with 30 bucks in his pocket. Pretty ballsy. Seriously who does that? Anyway I spotted him in a great little Irish movie WHAT RICHARD DID. This kid is the real deal.
Transformers 4, is not a reboot. That word has been floating around on the net.
This movie takes place exactly 4 years after the war in Chicago. The story makes a very natural transition, and reason as to why we have a whole new cast. This Transformers will feel very different then the last three. We are embarking on a new trilogy.
Michael.”