Cliff Curtis has, to date, spent 17 episodes of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead battling zombies across land and sea; for his latest role, however, the actor will be squaring off against a much more realistic but no less formidable foe.
That’s because Deadline is reporting that Curtis has agreed terms to join Warner Bros.’ upcoming shark thriller Meg, climbing aboard a cast that already boasts Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, Rainn Wilson and Chinese actress Li Bingbing – in lieu of Fan Bingbing, that is.
It’ll be based on Steve Alten’s 1997 sci-fi novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror which, if you weren’t already aware, features a surreal shot of a shark chowing down a Tyrannosaurus rex on the cover. You know that old saying about not judging a book by its cover? Well, in this case, it’s fairly accurate, with Alten’s book chronicling the history of the ancient predator before delving into the story of one Jonas Taylor, a decorated deep sea diver who plunges beneath the waves only to encounter a Megalodon, live and in the flesh, somewhere around the Marina Trench.
Ridiculed as a lunatic despite his detailed first-hand account, Taylor is offered another chance to explore the depths of the ocean via a Chinese conglomerate, but such efforts only go toward releasing the Megalodon into open water. Dean Georgaris adapts the script for the big screen, and although Meg does harbor some similarities to the lurid Piranha series, the cast attached to Warner’s adaptation leads us to believe that the studio is gunning for a more serious affair.
Meg has been tentatively slated for release on March 2, 2018. Jon Turtletaub is the director at the helm.