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Posted in: Movies, Sony | Tagged: Anaconda, sony, sony pictures
Anaconda Director Reveals The Concept That Changed His Mind
Anaconda director Tom Gormican says he agreed to tackle the reboot after pitching a wild “The Big Chill becomes Anaconda” concept.
Article Summary
- Anaconda director Tom Gormican reveals he only signed on after pitching a bold, comedic reboot concept.
- The new Anaconda treats the 1997 film as a movie within its universe, embracing meta humor and nostalgia.
- Paul Rudd and Jack Black lead a cast of friends who film a sequel in the jungle, facing real anaconda danger.
- Sony greenlit the wild "The Big Chill becomes Anaconda" idea, shifting the reboot into self-aware comedy.
Anaconda first slithered onto screens in 1997 as a creature feature centered on a documentary crew in the Amazon who cross paths with a ruthless snake hunter and a legendary giant anaconda. Directed by Luis Llosa, the film starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, and Owen Wilson, following the crew's doomed river trip as they are picked off one by one by the massive snake. Despite mixed reviews, it was a noteworthy box office hit, earning about $136.8 million worldwide and eventually growing into a so-bad-it's-good cult classic that spawned sequels, a Lake Placid crossover, and even an international remake. Given that legacy, it still came as a surprise when Sony moved ahead with a strange, meta-flavored revival that leans even harder into comedy.
This time, the new Anaconda is an action comedy that treats the 1997 film as an in-universe movie. It follows a group of childhood friends going through midlife crises who decide to head into the rainforest to make a low-budget "spiritual sequel" to the snake thriller they loved as kids, only to end up dealing with an actual, very angry anaconda. Now, director Tom Gormican says that approach came from pushing back against the usual reboot machine.
Anaconda Director on the Film's Appeal
Speaking with Screen Rant, he explained that he and co-writer Kevin Etten wanted to avoid a straightforward reboot approach, adding, "So we pitched, they brought us Anaconda at Sony, and they said, 'What about Anaconda? We're thinking about this.' And we were like, 'No, no, no.' And then we went back and said, 'If you let us do The Big Chill becomes Anaconda, then we're interested,' because we thought they would say no. And then they said yes. And we were like, 'Okay, now we got to figure this out.'"
The resulting film stars Paul Rudd and Jack Black as Griff and Doug, longtime friends chasing their abandoned filmmaking dreams, with Steve Zahn and Thandiwe Newton as the rest of their crew. Daniela Melchior plays a mysterious guide who joins their shoot, while Selton Mello appears as a snake handler, and Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez also pop up in meta roles that nod directly to the original.
For anyone curious to see how a '90s B-movie became a self-aware modern comedy, Anaconda is in theaters now.
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