Adrien Brody to fight Predators

Academy award winner Adrien Brody is to take the lead role in the new instalment in the Predator franchise, it has been announced.

The Darjeeling Limited star will act alongside Alice Braga and Danny Trego in Predators, Nimrod Antal's relaunch of the series featuring the dreadlocked alien killing machine.

Antal is shortly due to begin shooting in Hawaii and at Robert Rodriguez' Troublemaker Studios in Austin, with the Sin City director creatively spearheading the project.

Having won an Oscar for Roman Polanski's The Pianist, Brody's casting comes as a surprise, with the actor to play 'a heroic mercenary who battles to keep his team alive when its members are hunted by the aliens', Variety reports.

The film is set for release by 20th Century Fox in July 2010 and also stars The Shield's Walt Goggins, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Ultimate Fighter Oleg Taktarov.

The Hollywood Reporter adds that That 70s Show and Spider-Man 3 actor Topher Grace is in talks to join the cast as an accountant-turned-serial killer.