‘X-Men’ Star Alexandra Shipp Up For Female Lead In Shaft Reboot

Star of X-Men: Apocalypse, Alexandra Shipp, is reportedly in talks to join the upcoming Shaft film from director Tim Story. The actress joins Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree and Jesse T. Usher.

In the upcoming film, “working for the FBI, estranged from his father and determined not to be anything like him, John Shaft Jr. reluctantly enlists his father’s help to find out who killed his best friend Karim and bring down a drug-trafficking/money-laundering operation in NYC.”

Earlier this year, Deadline reported that the “idea is to reinvigorate the franchise with a focus on the son of the cool private eye who always finds himself navigating the gray terrain between the law and organized crime in New York City.”

The original 1971 film was a groundbreaking detective picture featuring Isaac Hayes’ Oscar-winning theme song and starred Roundtree as John Shaft, a street-wise black detective hired to find the beautiful kidnapped daughter of powerful Harlem mobster, Moses Gunn. Helmed by award-winning director Gordon Parks.

Jackson portrayed the character in a 2000 remake of the same name, which will make the upcoming film not only a remake of the concept but also include nods to the iconic performers from previous iterations.

Director Story is best known to our community for directing 20th Century Fox’s comic book movies: Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Creator of black-ish Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow have written the script.

Shipp was recently seen in the horror-comedy Tragedy Girls in which she played a serial killer who aimed to use social media to gain popularity. Interestingly, Shipp starred in that film alongside Brianna Hildebrand, who made a name for herself as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the Marvel film Deadpool. Shipp is slated to return to the X-Men franchise by reprising her role as Storm in X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

Samuel L. Jackson has had a busy schedule, as he recently wrapped filming on the M. Night Shyamalan film Glass, which serves as a sequel to not only 2000’s Unbreakable but also this year’s Split.

The upcoming Shaft film is scheduled to go into production next month.

[H/T Deadline]