Walken as Zeus joins Stone and Falco in 'Gods Behaving Badly'

(AFP PHOTO / ABDELHAK SENNA)

In a send-up of the Greek mythology genre, Christopher Walken ( Hairspray, Wedding Crashers) has been cast as a modern day Zeus in Gods Behaving Badly.

The actor who has played psychopaths, colonels and fathers joins Sharon Stone ( Basic Instinct, Catwoman) as Aphrodite and Edie Falco ( The Sopranos, Nurse Jackie) as Artemis, as reported by Indie Wire.

The adaptation of Marie Philips's novel about down-and-out Greek gods shifts the location from London to Manhattan, with the deities living as mortals today. It features Aphrodite as a phone-sex worker, Apollo as a television psychic and Zeus watching Doctor Who in bed.

The ensemble includes Oliver Platt as Apollo, John Turturro as Hades, Rosie Perez as Persephone, as well as a full pantheon of Eros, Hermes, Demeter and Dionysus.

Alicia Silverstone ( Clueless) portrays a human who gets involved with the powerless divine pantheon.
Production begins later in July with director Marc Turtletaub ( Little Miss Sunshine).

Stone is set to star in Waco with Adrien Brody and Kurt Russell, about the 1993 standoff in Texas with government agents and an armed religious cult.

Walken appears in Todd Solondz's Dark Horse and John Turturro currently costars in Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon.

RC