Daniela Melchior Joins Paul Rudd, Jack Black in Comedy Reboot of '90s Horror Movie
There are no details yet on Melchior's role in the planned revival.
Daniel Melchior, best known for her appearances in The Suicide Squad and Fast X, will join Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda, their forthcoming revival of the '90s creature feature of the same name. While the original movie has been embraced as a cult classic due to its unintentional camp, the new one will go in with eyes wide open, fully aware they're making a comedy. The movie is to be directed by Tom Gormican, who wrote the script alongside his The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent co-writer Kevin Etten.
The original setup feels like it has potential to play like the recent Jumanji revival (which also stars Black). In it, a crazed hunter takes a documentary film crew hostage in order to force them to help him find a massive anaconda. The results are predictably deadly.
The '90s Anaconda starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Owen Wilson, and Jon Voight. The movie earned more than $150 million against a reported budget of around $45 million.
Melchior has also appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 and Road House since making her big feature film debut in The Suicide Squad. The star is set to appear in Fast X Part 2 when it finally makes its way to theaters in 2026. Black most recently appeared in Borderlands and Kung Fu Panda 4. He is set to appear in the upcoming Minecraft movie. Rudd most recently appeared in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and is set to appear in Death of a Unicorn.
Deadline first reported the news of Melchior's casting. Their story suggests that the movie won't be a true remake, with only the concept of an enormous, killer snake front and center to tie it to the original.
An earlier report indicated that the movie will be just about as weird and meta as you would expect from the Massive Talent duo, centering on "a group of friends dealing with mid-life crises remaking a favorite movie from their youth who head to the rainforest only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against all manner of horrors, including violent criminals, natural disasters and, of course, giant snakes." Black's and Rudd's characters are supposedly going to be a director and a fading Hollywood star desperate to revive his career, although reports differ on which character each of the two actors would play in that scenario.
There is no production or release date set for Anaconda yet.
