Paul W.S. Anderson is one of the rare directors who managed to craft not just one successful video game movie, but six, with the ‘Resident Evil’ franchise. Since he has seemingly cracked the code, he is revisiting the world of video games for his next movie, ‘Monster Hunter’. He re-teams with his longtime collaborator/wife Milla Jovovich. Now another actor has been cast, Diego Boneta.
The movie follows “the leader of a UN military team named Artemis.” That will be Jovovich’s role. Artemis gets transported into another realm plagued by giant monsters. She must team up with The Hunter (played by martial arts star Tony Jaa) and his team to battle these beats and to seal a portal to prevent the monsters from invading Earth.
The movie adapts the popular RPG game series which features medieval warriors that protect their villages by equipping themselves with specifically chosen weapons and armor. By collecting additional items, players level up. Obviously, the film gives this storyline a time-remix element.
It’s unclear how big Boneta’s role will be, as he doesn’t even yet have a name, but he is known to be playing a communications specialist who is part of Artemis’ UN strike force.
The cast also includes Ron Perlman, who plays the Admiral, part of Hunter’s team and rapper/actor T.I. as sniper Link.
‘Monster Hunter’ begins filming next month in South Africa. The budget is estimated at around $60 million. Dennis Berardi, Jeremy Bolt, and Ken Kamins are producing. Anderson penned the screenplay for the movie himself. The film will be released in the U.S. by Screen Gems.
Mexican-born Boneta recently starred as singing superstar Luis Miguel on the biographical TV series ‘Luis Miguel: La Serie’. He has appeared on numerous series including ‘Jane the Virgin’, ‘90210’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’ and had regular roles on ‘Scream Queens’ and MTV’s ‘Underemployed’. He gained his first major notice for co-starring in the musical ‘Rock of Ages’ with Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary J. Blige and more.
He just wrapped the untitled ‘Terminator’ reboot, directed by Tim Miller (‘Deadpool’) which is due in theaters on November 11, 2019.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
