Baker dubbed the new McQueen

Simon Baker has been dubbed Hollywood's new Steve McQueen by two movie heavyweights, producer Mark Canton and director George Romero.

McQueen, the hard-drinking, chain-smoking tough guy from 1960s classics The Great Escape, Bullitt and The Magnificent Seven, had an icy, anti-hero presence audiences adored.

Canton and Romero believe Baker, with his blond locks and penetrating blue eyes, has that same on-screen charisma, which is why they cast him in their new film Land of the Dead.