Quartet takes a 'Stand'

GuzmanKnoxville Stanton Forest Whitaker, Luis Guzman, Johnny Knoxville and Harry Dean Stanton round out the cast of Lionsgate's "The Last Stand," which moved into production Monday with Arnold Schwarzenegger back to acting for the first time since leaving the California governorship.Lionsgate, which has domestic and international distribution rights, said the film has pre-sold well in several overseas territories.Jaimie Alexander is in the female lead opposite Schwarzenegger. Korean helmer Kim Jee-woon directs the pic, which finds Schwarzenegger playing the sheriff of a sleepy town who runs up against an escaped drug cartel leader heading for the Mexican border.Peter Stormare, Rodrigo Santoro, Eduardo Noriega and Zach Gilford co-star; Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing. Andrew Knauer wrote the original spec script that was subsequently rewritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff and, more recently, George Nolfi.Schwarzenegger, Knoxville and Kim are represented by CAA. Santoro and Stormare are represented by ICM, Guzman by the Gersh Agency and Whitaker and Gilford by WME. Stanton is represented by Bresler-Kelly and Associates.Deals were negotiated on behalf of Lionsgate by Robert Melnik, exec VP of business affairs. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com