If you don't know who John Ortiz is yet, you probably will soon enough. He's had roles in Miami Vice, El Cantante, and American Gangster, and he's also got a handful of movies on the way, from Pride and Glory to Two Lovers. Now MTV is giving him huge praise -- they have just listed him as the man who will become the next great supporting star -- following in the footsteps of Paul Giamatti, Chris Cooper, and John C. Reilly. The site recently talked with the actor, and found out that he has nabbed himself a role in the retro gangster flick Public Enemies.

When production gears up in March, Ortiz will play Sicilian gangster Frank 'The Enforcer' Nitti -- a man who rose from small-time thief, to one of Al Capone's right-hand men, to the frontman for Scarface's gang when Al was sent away for income tax evasion. But these are big shoes for the actor to fill even behind the camera. In the past, Nitti has been played by Bruce Gordon, Sylvester Stallone, Stanley Tucci, and the creepy Billy Drago.

But if you want more action and machismo, and less drama, he's also gearing up for the next installment of The Fast and the Furious.

Considering I kind of thought of the first AVP film as the equivalent to Billy the Kid vs. Dracula, you could see how maybe I couldn't quite work up much enthusiasm for Alien vs. Predator 2: AVP2 -- an it looks like I wasn't alone in that particular sentiment. Erik had reported on a first look at some images from the film back in January, and now Design Press has posted a sneak peek at an upcoming book from ADI on creature effects from film. Titled Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest, the book contains over 300 illustrations from he film and is being released in December, to presumably coincide with the Christmas Day release. This time, the story is set in a small Midwestern town, believe it or not, as the two warring species apparently land for another one of those "epic battles" they seem to enjoy so much. John Ortiz stars as a local sheriff leading a small group of townsfolk who band together to survive the invasion.

The sequel was directed by Greg and Colin Strause, brothers who both have had extensive visual effects resumes (including 300 and X-Men: The Last Stand), but relatively few directing credits -- talk of lackluster script reviews didn't exactly inspire confidence in the hearts of the few remaining fans of the series. Considering the reception the first film received I don't think anyone really was demanding a sequel, but the first one did pull in over $80 million at the U.S. box office, so I guess there were still a few dollars to squeeze out of the franchise.