Forest Whitaker & Anthony Mackie Starring In Voodoo Horror Flick 'Vipaka'

by Oliver Lyttelton
August 3, 2011 2:05 AM
3 Comments

Sanaa Lathan & Mike Epps Also On Board

In theory, winning an Oscar is meant to provide a boost to your career. In theory. But somehow, the four and a half years since Forest Whitaker took home a golden man for his portrayal of Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland" have provided a series of diminishing returns. Aside from a handful of exceptions, both his Oscar-bait films like "Hurricane Season" and "The Great Debaters" and would-be commercial properties like "Street Kings" and "Repo Men" tanked, while an alarming number of his pictures seem to be skipping theatrical release entirely, and he spent last year leading the swiftly-cancelled CBS procedural "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior."

Still, he remains a fine actor, and he's just signed on to a project that will team him with one of the most promising young actors around, as The Hollywood Reporter reveal that both Whitaker and Anthony Mackie will star in a new independent horror film titled "Vipaka." Written by Shin Shimosawa, a co-producer on "The Grudge" films, it'll see Whitaker play a disturbed man who abducts his life coach (Mackie), using voodoo to torment him and his family.

Philippe Caland, who previously directed Whitaker in the 2007 drama "Ripple Effect" (no, us neither, but see below), is at the helm, and the cast also includes Sanaa Lathan ("Alien vs. Predator") and Mike Epps ("Friday") as Mackie's wife and brother, respectively. Ordinarily, it sounds like the kind of fare that Whitaker's doing all too often these days, but we have to confess that Mackie's presence has given us hope: he's a hot property at the moment, squeezing this in between shoots for blockbusters "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Gangster Squad," so fingers crossed that his involvement means that the film will be superior genre fare. Filming's getting underway this week in New Orleans, so we'll presumably see this sometime in 2012.

More: Films, Actors, Modern Horror, Anthony Mackie, Forest Whitaker, Vipaka

3 Comments

| Reply
Wash | August 4, 2011 4:59 AMReply

Agreed, Fred. And the whole bit around the offering a piece of gum? I've never seen a guy offering gum come off so creepy. Whitaker was perfect.
Fred | August 4, 2011 1:49 AMReply

No he didn't but the Oscar for Scotland should have been an Emmy for The Shield...one of the best pieces of work in years on television. Who can forget the scene in which he destroys his office (among many others?)
Wash | August 3, 2011 2:53 AMReply

Did Whitaker get nominated for an Emmy for his work on The Shield?