Thandiwe Newton and Steve Zahn are the latest additions to "Anaconda", Columbia’s comedic reimagining of the 1997 horror movie that launched a mini-franchise.
Selton Mello, who appears in Brazilian awards season hopeful I’m Still Here, and Ione Skye have also joined the feature that stars Paul Rudd and Jack Black.
Mello will be making his English-language debut with the action comedy.
Tom Gormican, who directed the Nicolas Cage meta movie The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, is co-writing with collaborator Kevin Etten and will direct the feature.
The original movie starred Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Ice Cube and Jon Voight, and followed a National Geographic film crew hunting for the world’s largest and deadliest snake, only to find the tables turned.
According to sources, the new story involves a group of friends facing mid-life crises who are remaking their favorite movie from their youth. They head to the rainforest, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes and violent criminals.
Black will play an erstwhile director, a man stuck in his job as a wedding videographer, while Rudd will play an actor who did a stint on a cop show but sees his Hollywood dreams slipping further and further away.
Newton and Zahn are other childhood friends who join the two on the ill-fated adventure, while Mello plays a Brazilian animal wrangler. Skye is playing Black’s wife.
The movie is now shooting in Australia, where it is being supported by the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy.
Fully Formed, the banner run by producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, is producing the movie, which has a December 25 release date.
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