Karen Gillan Joins Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in ‘Jumanji’ Sequel
Karen Gillan has landed the female lead in Sony’s “Jumanji” sequel opposite Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. Jake Kasdan is on board to direct the adaptation of the 1981 children’s book.
Nick Jonas is also on board to star. The film hits theaters on July 28, 2017.
Plot details are being kept under wraps.
Gillan will reprise her role as Nebula in “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” and costar opposite Ethan Hawke in “In A Valley Of Violence.” She is best known for playing “Doctor Who” companion Amelia Pond. Gillan is repped by UTA, Troika in the UK and attorney Darren Trattner.
The 1995 “Jumanji” movie starred Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jonathan Hyde, and Bebe Neuwirth. The story centered on a 12-year-old boy who becomes trapped in a board game in 1969 only to be released 26 years later.
Sony has been trying for years to get a sequel or reboot off the ground given the lasting fandom around the original pic. Johnson’s sudden interest came after hearing the pitch this past spring that the wheels moving toward a sequel finally getting off the ground.
“The number one component that’s been my driving force has been the opportunity to introduce Jumanji to a whole new generation,” Johnson said over email to Variety. “But in that spirit we want to create a continuing story that feels fresh, cool and global. Create something that’s hopefully four quadrant in today’s market for the fans.”
Johnson has been very clear in recent months that this film will try it’s best to honor the memory of Williams and is been quite clear in over the past couple weeks that this would be a continuation and not a reboot of the classic pic.
“We added more characters to our story,” Johnson said. “Now there’s five heroes who all bring their own “strengths and weaknesses” to the game. Of course we have our main antagonist and his bad guys and a fun “neutral” character as well. One of the best elements from the original and one that we can build on is the animals of “Jumanji.” That was a such a dangerously fun element of the original movie and of course we had to carry on that tradition. (and Chris Van Allsburg original “Jumanji” novel visually depicted the animals is such a cool way). Also our continuation story (20yrs later) allows us to recognize and pay homage to Robin Williams’ legacy in “Jumanji”. The character of Alan Parish will be immortalized in our movie. That’s what a sequel allows us to do, as well as explore a whole new “Jumanji” universe.
This will also mark a reteam for Johnson and Hart who recently starred in the hit action comedy “Central Intelligence” and the two seemed to have fun busting each other chops from the start of production to the end of the press tour. Asked who might be causing the most trouble during this shoot Johnson said, “Well let’s see we can easily rename this movie “The 3 cray cray a**holes, a cool talented rockstar and a wonderfully brilliant, beautiful and bad a** girl” so who do you think is gonna cause the most trouble on set?”
Matt Tolmach and William Teitler are producing, while Ted Field, Mike Weber, Johnson, Dany Garcia and Van Allsburg are executive producing. Principal photography is expected to start this fall in Honolulu. The sequel’s script was written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, based on a draft by the original writers, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.
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