Common and Billy Bob Thornton to take on a renegade Russian sub in Hunter Killer

Variety reports that Common and Billy Bob Thornton have both signed onto a submarine thriller that begins shooting this summer. Hunter Killer will see U.S. and Russian subs dueling under the polar ice caps as the global powers teeter on the brink of nuclear war. Thornton will play Admiral Charles Donnegan, who we assume will be making tough choices from afar once both subs are cut off from the outside world. Common, who just won an Academy Award for his original song in Selma, will play Rear Admiral John Fisk.

Common and Thornton are joining Gerard Butler, who will play the captain of the USS Toledo. Based on Firing Point by George Wallace and Don Keith, Hunter Killer sounds like it should satisfy the world’s periodic need to see nuclear subs circling each other in briny depths while men shout at each other in confined metal spaces, their subordinates staring nervously at dials and gauges, listening for sonar pings and the tinkling of compromised hulls.