Washington [US], May 31 : The two-time Oscar winner actor Mahershala Ali, who was last seen in hit thriller 'Leave the World Behind', is in talks to join Scarlett Johansson in Universal's new 'Jurassic World' movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo are already on board for the film, which is set to begin production in London in mid-June under the direction of Gareth Edwards.
The studio is keeping the plot under wraps. David Koepp, the original screenwriter for 'Jurassic Park' (1993) and 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997), wrote the script for the upcoming movie.
Universal has set a theatrical release of July 2, 2025.
Locking in Ali would be a coup for the film, given the actor prefers to avoid Hollywood blockbusters and has earned a reputation for being picky. He would also provide gravity to the new Jurassic World, given his reputation for playing serious characters. In 2017, he won an Oscar for his performance in Barry Jenkins' Moonlight, and in 2019, he won another for his performance in Peter Farrelly's Oscar-winning Green Book.
Ali's first major film role was in the David Fincher-directed fantasy 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' . He gained recognition for supporting roles in the final two films of the original 'The Hunger Games' film series, and in 'House of Cards', for which he received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Last year, he voiced a key character in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and then closed out 2023 starring with Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon and Ethan Hawke in Netflix's Leave the World Behind. The Sam Esmail thriller is currently the fifth-most-watched English film on the platform, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
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