The boys in Metallica sure like to keep themselves busy. On top of putting out a new album next month and then kicking off a two-year world tour, Metallica frontman James Hetfield is jumping back into his fledgling acting career with a new project.
According to film industry publication Deadline, Hetfield has been tapped for a role in The Thicket, a film being made exclusively for…*checks notes*…Tubi. Huh. The film is apparently a “passion project” for the film’s star and producer Peter Dinklage, and shooting has already begun in Calgary, Canada.
The movie is actually an adaptation of and shares its name with the Joe R. Lansdale novel. We don’t know exactly what Hetfield’s role in the movie will be, Deadline provided a brief synopsis of the film’s plot:
Set at the turn-of-the-century, The Thicket follows an innocent young man, Jack (played by Levon Hawke), who goes on an epic quest to rescue his sister Lula (Esmé Creed-Miles) after she has been kidnapped by the violent killer Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) and her gang. To save her, Jack enlists the help of a crafty bounty hunter named Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage), a grave-digging alcoholic son of an ex-slave (Gbenga Akinnagbe), and a street-smart prostitute (Leslie Grace). The gang tracks Cut Throat Bill into the deadly no-man’s land known as The Big Thicket — a place where blood and chaos reign.
As you can probably tell from the plot and the actors listed within it, Dinklage and Lewis will have the leading roles, while Elliot Lester will direct the film.
This won’t be the first time a member of Metallica’s had a role in a feature film. Lars Ulrich has had roles in Get Him to the Greek and Hemmingway & Gellhorn, while Hetfield played a cop in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. And that doesn’t even include the various voice acting roles to the band’s credit.
There’s no release date set for the movie at this time, but you’ll be able to catch it once it finally comes out on Tubi.