New Line Cinema has been working on a big screen adaptation of the classic 80s arcade game ‘Rampage’ for a while now. Things looked like they were picking up in 2011 when John Rickard was brought on to direct, but the project featuring three gigantic monsters demolishing cities stalled until 2015 when producer Beau Flynn and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson joined the production. Shortly after that, ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’ and ‘San Andreas’ director Brad Peyton signed on and they were well on their way to their March 2017 start date. Now, it seems like they’re finally ready to announce some co-stars for the People’s Champion.
Earlier this month, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 2016 Oscar nominations. Johnson’s latest film ‘Moana’ was nominated for Best Animated Feature, but now ‘Rampage’ appears to have more than one Academy Award nominee. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Moonlight’ star Naomie Harris is the latest to come aboard as “a geneticist with a moral streak” opposite the former WWE Champion’s animal-loving hero.
The outlet reports that the Best Supporting Actress nominee “sparked to the fun tone of the script”, but no other details surrounding the story have been revealed. For now, the script written by Ryan Engle with work done by Carlton Cuse, Ryan Condal, and Adam Sztykiel and everything in it is being tightly under wraps. Although considering the source material and the characters played by Harris and Johnson, one would think that this film would basically feature a completely original story. Let’s just hope that it’s more ‘Pacific Rim’ and less ‘Battleship’.
What do you think about the casting for ‘Rampage’ so far? Are you surprised to see this much star power attached to the project? And does anyone else hope that this movie ushers in a remake of the game? Sound off in the comments.
Despite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
