Although James Hetfield is of course best known as the frontman of the legendary Metallica, he’s also built up quite the IMDb page for himself. He’s done voice acting in TV shows like Skylanders Academy, Dave The Barbarian and Metalocalypse (and voiced himself on shows like American Dad and The Simpsons), and he’s appeared as himself and/or with the rest of Metallica on various shows over the years.
Now, he’s been given the opportunity to play his first dramatic role, and he’s taking it: Deadline reports that Hetfield has accepted a role in the upcoming Ted Bundy biopic, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, And Vile. Hetfield has been cast as Officer Bob Hayward, “a no-nonsense Utah highway patrol veteran” who in 1975 was the first law enforcement official to arrest the serial killer.
It may seem like this casting choice came out of nowhere, but there’s actually some context: The film’s director, Joe Berlinger, also directed and produced the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, and wrote a book about his experiences with the band, Metallica: This Monster Lives. It’s this history with Hetfield that convinced Berlinger that the singer could thrive on screen, he says:
“Having spent hundreds of hours behind the scenes with James and the rest of Metallica, I have experienced his charisma and powerful presence close up. It seemed only natural that he would bring that same power and magnetism to a dramatic role, so when he agreed to my pitch that he be in the movie, I was thrilled.”
The movie is also set to star Zac Efron in the lead role, along with Lily Collins, John Malkovich, Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, and others.
