Jason Statham has signed on to lead the Warner Bros. creature feature Meg, which means he's going to battle a giant prehistoric shark. All I can say is, what took so long? It's the kind of thing I never knew I needed, but not that it's out there, it seems so obvious. Jason Statham was born to take on a giant shark. This is destiny.
National Treasure helmer Jon Turteltaub is set to direct the monstrous adventure film, which finds two men teaming up to fight a Megalodon, the 60-foot prehistoric ancestor of the great white shark when the beast starts tormenting swimmers along the china coast. So basically it's Jaws in China and they're going to need a much, much bigger boat. THR reports that Statham has boarded the Warner Bros./Gravity co-production, but no details are known about Statham's character as of now. However, it's very likely that he will be badass.
Statham had a great year in 2015, playing standout supporting role alongside Melissa McCarthy in Spy and taking on Vin Diesel and the Toretto crew in Furious 7. While he's headlined studio pictures in the past, most notably the Transporter franchise, Meg could be his biggest starring role yet. And it's rather a perfect fit, not only because Jason Statham vs Dinosaur Shark is a dream battle of the century, but because before Statham got into the movie-making biz, he was a world class athlete in watersports on the British National Diving Team.
Until earlier this year, Eli Roth was attached to direct Meg, but the project was overhauled when Turteltaub came on board with a re-write of Dean Georgaris’ (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) script from Jamie Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spider-Man). Turteltaub certainly brings a different sensibility to the project, and now with Statham landing the lead, it looks like the film is definitely geared as more of an action-adventure take on the monster genre.
What do you guys think? Are you as excited about this news as I am? Do you think we'll get to see Statham punch the shark in the face? I sure hope so. Sound off in the comments below.
