Rose Byrne joins Nicolas Cage in his NATIONAL TREASURE/NEXT hybrid

Alex Proyas' next movie - the sci-fi thriller Knowing which see's Nicolas Cage star in a role that is an exact blending of his parts in both last year's National Treasure 2 and Next, has found a female lead. The Hollywood Reporter say 27 year old Australian actress Rose Byrne who had a good 12 months with her solid performances in 28 Weeks Later and Sunshine has been cast, with filming set to begin at the end of the month.

Byrne will play the daughter of a woman who buried a 1962 time capsule bearing the dates of the assassinations of historical figures, the hotel fire death of the wife of a professor (Cage) and an imminent world apocalypse. After the professor discovers its contents and alerts her, the initially skeptical Byrne begins remembering strange incidents from her childhood.

For my money there isn't a more boring lead actor on the planet right now than Nicolas Cage and his inability to get through expedition dialogue without making you fall asleep has always been his big hindrance in this genre. The script which has gone through more re-writes than bad Cage performances (which is never a good sign for this type of movie) has a lot of room for scope and I hope Proyas can bring his visual A-Game that he brought to the table with the brilliant I, Robot and Dark City. I'm hoping this is a cool sci-fi treat for us all and a movie that doesn't make me wanna rip Nicolas Cages' boring tongue out of his mouth.