It looks like Scarlett Johansson might be taking a dip in the Black Lagoon. Universal’s been working on a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake since way back in 1982 when John Landis tried to get Jack Arnold back to direct. Clearly that never panned out and neither did the iteration John Carpenter tried getting off the ground or the one Gary Ross almost did with Breck Eisner.
However, things might be picking up again because according to The Tracking Board, Universal has offered Johansson the lead role in the film. Arnold’s 1954 original centers on a group of scientists who go on an expedition and wind up running into a “gill-man,” a creature that’s part human and part fish. The outlet doesn’t have any information regarding the remake narrative, but assuming the new version sticks close to the original, Johansson must have been offered the role originally played by Julie Adams, Kay Lawrence, a scientist on the expedition who catches the creature’s attention.
Per usual, this is just a rumor and for all we know, Johansson might just be at the top of Universal’s wish list. In fact, it seems like she’d be quite the reach for the studio for something like this. First off, she’s got a lot coming up including Captain America: Civil War and Ghost in the Shell, and second, she might be out of Universal's price range as well. The studio reportedly spent $70 million on Dracula Untold and if this movie winds up with a similar budget, it seems unlikely they'll be able to afford her, more familiar faces and all the resources needed to pull off crazy, CGI-heavy action sequences.
Right now Universal has Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy coming on June 24, 2016 and then another movie going by the name Untitled Universal Monster Franchise Film due in theaters on April 27, 2017. Could that one be Creature from the Black Lagoon? If they’re trying to cast now, it’s possible, but first the project needs a director.
According to The Tracking Board, Ross is still involved in the project and will produce alongside Robin Bissell, Marc Abraham and Eric Newman using the script he wrote with Jeff Blitz, Tedi Sarafian and Paul Schering. (There’s no mention of David Kajganich who was supposedly brought in to do a rewrite in 2012.)
