Ken Watanabe Joins 'Cirque du Freak'

Come one, come all! We've got two meddlesome kids (Josh Hutcherson and Chris Kelly), one of whom becomes the catalyst for a war between the vampires and the Vampanese. We've got a centuries-old vamp who owns a very large and special spider (John C. Reilly). And lastly, we've got one of the sexiest bearded ladies this side of beardonia (Salma Hayek). What else could a Cirque du Freak want?

Variety reports that the next ingredient in this bloody recipe is Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai, or better yet, Ra's Al Ghul). He'll play Mr. Tall, "the barker for the Cirque" -- you know, the dude who tries to attract passerby into the big tent with promises of all sorts of joy and wonder. The film, coming from Brian Helgeland's script and Paul Weitz's directorial hand, is about a young kid who is drafted to become an old vampire's assistant. The kid then, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your POV), gets made half-vamp and becomes that pesky catalyst.

Now a Cirque can't rely only on an old vamp, a spider (who will voice her, anyway?), and a bearded lady -- unless Mr. Tall is that good -- so I imagine we should get some more casting bites soon enough. Production is set to role next month.