Beaks here...

Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke is reporting that the magnificent Christoph Waltz has agreed to step in for Nicolas Cage as the villain "Chudnofsky" in Michel Gondry's THE GREEN HORNET. That, my friends, is what we call a bingo.

Though many were disappointed when Cage dropped out of the film (reportedly over $$$), I love the idea of Waltz goofing around with what will presumably be a more cartoony bad guy than INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS' charismatic, but deeply evil Col. Hans Landa. This could be a nice, post-Oscar victory lap for the fifty-two-year-old Austrian actor, who, prior to his appearance in Tarantino's film, was all but unknown here in the states. This is incredibly well-deserved, and will hopefully vault Waltz into bigger and better (and, perhaps, less villainous roles) in the near future.

Waltz will join Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and Cameron Diaz in the Gondry-directed film, which is currently shooting and set to hit theaters December 17, 2010.

(And kudos to Herc for suggesting Waltz might be in the running last week.)