Metallica frontman James Hetfield has landed his first dramatic film role. As Deadline reports, he’s been cast in the upcoming Ted Bundy biopic, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
Hetfield will play the role of “no-nonsense” Utah highway patrol Officer Bob Hayward, who was the first officer to arrest Bundy after pulling the serial killer over. Zac Efron stars as Bundy in the thriller.
The film reunites Hetfield with Oscar-nominated director Joe Berlinger, who directed and produced the Metallica documentary, Some Kind of Monster, and penned a book about the band, This Monster Lives.
“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,” Berlinger said in a statement. “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.”
Hetfield joins a stacked cast including John Malkovich, Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario, Jeffrey Donovan, and more.
Update – February 13th: Here’s our first look at Hetfield in character, courtesy of director Joe Berlinger: