Remakes can be annoying and many movie fans hate the idea of them. But sometimes there’s the potential for a remake to be better than the original. I believe that potential is there for Sony’s new Anaconda film which landed Paul Rudd and Jack Black over the summer. And now Deadline reports The Suicide Squad and Road House star Daniela Melchior will be taking on the giant snake alongside them.
Anaconda will have a script by The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent writers Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, with Gormican directing. The film will be a fresh take on the 1997 cult favorite that starred Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, and Jon Voight, centering on a nature doc film crew who are held hostage by a hunter and forced to join him on a quest to take on the world’s largest anaconda. It was a huge hit for the time, earning $145M and catapulting the acting careers of Lopez and Ice Cube.
This version will lean more towards comedy, obviously. A previous report said the story would follow “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.” Another report adds “Black would play an erstwhile director, a man stuck in his job as a wedding videographer, while Rudd would play an actor who did a stint on a cop show but sees his Hollywood dreams slipping further and further away.”
Melchior has been busy since her breakout role as Ratcatcher in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. She’s starred opposite Gyllenhaal in Road House, along with roles in Fast X, Marlow, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 also from Gunn. Next up for her is the Peter Farrelly action-comedy Balls Up opposite Mark Wahlberg.
