Michael Peña, who stole scenes during his turn as Scott Lang’s fellow thief pal Luis in the first Ant-Man movie, will have another chance to run away with the plot in Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time. According to the official Wrinkle In Time Twitter account, Peña has been cast as Red, and it’s pretty safe to assume that’s the film’s version of the Man With The Red Eyes, a mysterious and dangerous telepathic creature in Madeleine L’Engle’s novel. Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin meet the Man With The Red Eyes halfway through the book. The creature lives on planet Camazotz, a utopia where everyone does what they’re told when they’re told—a nightmare for most children. The Man With The Red Eyes turns out to be sinister and manipulative, one of the book’s many villains. His mouth doesn’t move when he speaks; the children hear him in their brain, and it’s creepy as hell. It’s hard to imagine Peña’s warm presence in such an evil role, but maybe that welcoming face of his actually makes him the perfect candidate to trick children into believing what he says.
The casting decision continues DuVernay’s diverse and creative approach to casting this big-budget film, which also stars Oprah as the mysterious and powerful (a description that could also apply to Oprah herself) Mrs. Which, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling as the other otherwordly beings who help Meg on her adventure through time and space, Zach Galifianakis as the Happy Medium, 13-year-old Storm Reid as the young protagonist Meg, Chris Pine as Meg’s missing father, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Meg’s brilliant scientist mom. Moonlight star André Holland, Girl Meets World lead Rowan Blanchard, and Scandal’s Bellamy Young round out this incredible cast, which is starting to look more stacked than the billing for a season of American Horror Story.
Peña will return for Ant-Man And The Wasp. He was also recently cast in the upcoming Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon war movie Horse Soldiers, which is totally 100% different than War Horse…but is it?