By Steve Henricksen

M. Night Shyamalan, the auteur behind such high-brow classics as Lady in the Water, The Village and The Last Airbender, has cast legendary Hollywood front-man and action stud Bruce Willis as the lead role in the director’s upcoming opus The Sixth Defense, which will be based upon the soon-to-launch XBLA, PSN, and PC title Dungeon Defenders. The highly-coveted role was the talk of Tinsel Town and inspired tweets from industry titans like George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Paul Reubens, all of whom expressed interest in working on the project.

The casting of Willis follows on the heels of news that Shyamalan will not be working with William Hurt on this next project, confirming that Hurt will not make an appearance in The Sixth Defense.

“I’m digging deep with this project, trying to bridge the gap between Plato and Spielberg. I think I’ve found my lynchpin in Willis,” quipped Shyamalan on the Dungeon Defenders set. “It one of the best movies not starring William Hurt this year!”

Hurt declined to comment.

The upcoming Dungeon Defenders game is an original hybrid of two hot genres: tower defense and cooperative online action-RPG. The game puts players in the role of one of four distinctive hero classes tasked with fending off hordes of invading beasties by strategically summoning a variety of defenses & traps throughout their castle. But because DD is much more than just a strategy game, players directly participate in the action-packed combat with their hero characters while upgrading their statistics, gathering tons of loot and inventory items, customizing & upgrading equipment, and developing unique class abilities. All of this can be enjoyed in seamless online and split-screen local multiplayer, as players cooperate and compete through the story campaign and challenge missions to build the strongest heroes and achieve the highest scores in the kingdom.

The Sixth Defense is slated for release this summer, but an exact release date is subject to change. For more information, please visit www.dungeondefenders.com and www.facebook.com/DungeonDefenders.