Does This Mean We Have To Rent The Goddamn Thing? Ciaran Hinds To Play Villain In 'Ghost Rider 2'

We mentioned last week the Luis Guzman Memorial Club that we're building in Hollywood for the unsung heroes of the character actor world, and somehow, we failed to mention Ciaran Hinds. The Irish-born actor came to prominence in the theater world (he was in the original cast of "Closer," and played Richard III for Sam Mendes), before breaking through to Hollywood as the Russian president in "The Sum Of All Fears."

Since then, he's been one of those guys who crops up in everything, amassing a pretty impressive collection of collaborators: "Road To Perdition," "Munich" (one of his best performances, actually), "Miami Vice," "Margot at the Wedding," "In Bruges," and "Life During Wartime" have all come in the last few years, although he's probably best known for playing Caesar in HBO's "Rome," and for being Daniel Day-Lewis' right-hand-man in "There Will Be Blood." And, like the best character actors, he pretty much elevates everything he's in.

Unfortunately, everyone's got to eat, and Hinds, who's already done the tentpole villainy thing a couple of times, in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" and "Race to Witch Mountain," has just signed on to one of the more unnecessary sequels of modern times, "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance." Hinds will play the devil in the film (renamed Roark in the script, for no apparent reason), taking over the role from Peter Fonda, who took it on in the original. He was something of a background player in the first film, at least as far as we can remember before we threw the DVD out the window, but he's very much the villain in this piece, aiming to take over the body of his human son, and only a fiery-headed Nic Cage can stop him.

Violante Placido ("The American") has also joined the cast, as the boy's mother. We hope that they'll both be paid handsomely for their efforts. Hinds at least has brighter things in his future: he's in the starry cast of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," he's supporting Daniel Radcliffe in ghost story "The Woman In Black," and he'll crop up in "John Carter of Mars," and even the final Harry Potter films, as Dumbledore's brother. "Crank" directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are the men in charge, and the film hits theaters, in 3D of course, on February 17th, 2012.