Ray Liotta cast as villain in <i>Dungeon Siege</i>

After playing bad guy Tommy Vercetti in the movielike game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Narc) is now slated to play the bad guy antagonist in the upcoming Dungeon Siege, based on Gas Powered Games' 2002 fantasy-inspired role-playing game of the same name.

Liotta will be starring opposite Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter), who is cast as Farmer, the movie's lead. Farmer must defeat Liotta's unspeakably evil Gallian in order to save his wife and child.

The two will be backed up by a recognizable cast featuring Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, Matthew Lillard, Kristann Loken, and Burt Reynolds. Yes, Burt Reynolds. Also announced as castmembers today were game-to-movie vets Will Sanderson (House of the Dead) as Bastian, Brian J. White (the upcoming Tekken and DOA: Dead or Alive) as Commander Tarish, and German ubermodel Eva Padberg as Julia.

Dungeon Siege is the latest in Boll's run of game-based movies that began with House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, but it will not be his last. The German director already has the rights to films based on Hunter: The Reckoning, Fear Effect, and Far Cry.

After the critical drubbing House of the Dead received upon its release, Boll told GameSpot in February that he understands the importance of a great script and that he wanted this film to have "great characters in a Braveheart meets Conan meets Lord of the Rings story."

Dungeon Siege is scheduled for release next year. Dungeon Siege II from Gas Powered Games recently went gold and is expected to hit stores next month.