If Sharknado has taught us anything – besides the power of social media – it’s that people love to see monsters squaring off against actors you wouldn’t expect. Despite that franchise’s recent (or was it always there?) downgrade in quality, there’s still ideas to be be mined from that general cinematic arena. One of those already in pre-production is Meg, a mega-shark movie that originally had Eli Roth at the helm, and now has Jon Turteltaub attached to direct.
But that’s not the good news. Today, Deadline brings word that one guy who you definitely would not expect to see facing off against an aquatic beastie is in final negotiations for the movie: action star supreme, Jason Statham.
Statham has faced far worse opponents than an ancient, pissed-off reptile, and it’ll be a blast to see how he responds when learning of a Megaladon chomping down on seaside swimmers. As mentioned above, he’s still ironing out details, so it’s not a dead cert just yet.
Turteltaub’s monster caper is based on a script by Dean Georgaris, that’s adapted from Steve Alten’s best-selling book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror. It sounds remarkably similar to Jaws, except the action this time will be located off the coast of China, a change influenced by the film’s Chinese financiers Gravity.
Statham is the only actor connected to Meg so far, but we’ll keep you posted on any new additions to the cast as and when they happen. With the Fast & Furious star lining up to dice with a watery death, it’s certainly not a bad start to what could be a terrific B-movie.