Back in January, we were puzzling over the description of Hulu’s new show, Citizen, which was touted as a “hero origin story” set in a “‘supernaturalized’ Los Angeles.” Now, we have a little bit more to go on, thanks to some very interesting casting news: musician Tom Waits.
Though Waits is best-known for his long career as a singer-songwriter, distinguished by his poetic lyrics and whiskey-tinged voice, he’s also a sometimes actor known for choosing offbeat projects (like Jim Jarmusch’s groundbreaking indie Down By Law) and unusual parts (remember him as Renfield in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula?)
This is to say that Waits probably wouldn’t sign on to a TV series unless it appealed to his specific tastes. The fact that Citizen, which is produced by Paramount Television, does is a very good sign for the show. As Deadline reports:
Waits will play Cesar, a priest, who is a walking anachronism of virtue and vice, mostly virtue. A proudly anti-authoritarian man, Cesar, runs a guerrilla humanitarian outfit with questionable legality from his church in Boyle Heights.
Citizen is being executive produced by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me And Earl And The Dying Girl), who is also directing the pilot. Color us very intrigued.
