Today in Let The Past Die news, Paul Rudd and Jack Black are in talks to star in a remake of the 1997 film Anaconda which was Owen Wilson’s first big Hollywood role, and Jennifer Lopez’s follow up to Selena (look, it can take time for a movie to come out, and you have to keep working in the meantime.
Almost every star has a terrible film that comes out just after their breakout role for this very reason). Given that they’re casting Rudd and Black, and that the film will be directed by Tom Gormican, who previously made the meta Nicolas Cage comedy, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, this is clearly meant to be a comedy. Things that slither are inherently disgusting, maybe it’s a gross-out comedy.
The plot is described as friends having mid-life crises go to the jungle to remake their favorite film from their youth (both of these guys are too old for that to have been Anaconda). Rudd might be playing a failing actor, Black might be playing a failed director, or maybe it’s the other way around. THR’s “sources” don’t seem sure. Either way, that’s not a bad concept. Would be even better if it was an original film, and part of me wonders if this WAS an original concept that someone had to graft onto an existing IP in order to justify getting it made (like Joker). One reason for all the sequels/remakes/reboots is studio executives are allergic to risk and refuse to take it if at all possible. But I don’t know that there’s a ton of nostalgia for Anaconda—which devolved into a made-for-TV franchise on the Sci-Fi Channel—so this could be setting up another Fall Guy scenario. Existing IP is NOT as safe as you think, chickensh-t studio executives!
Also, there’s the Jack Black of it all. Earlier this summer, Black pulled the plug on a Tenacious D tour after his bandmate and longtime friend Kyle Gass made a remark during a show about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. It was a joke, but Black said he was “blindsided” by it, and now the fate of the band is in question. Fans of Black and Tenacious D have had big feelings about this ever since. Will that have any impact on Black’s film career? Genuinely hard to tell. The youths aren’t going to movies that often, anyway, and they’re not the target audience for a remake of a thirty-year-old B-movie starring middle-aged actors in the first place. And diehard Tenacious D fans might not be numerous enough to make a dent. But I do wonder what long-term impact this has on Black, if any. Or if, in a couple years, Tenacious D starts touring again and we all act like this never happened. Only time will tell!
Anyway, here’s a video of an anaconda slowly slithering toward you. No one will ever make a movie creepier/grosser/scarier than this.
