It’s official. Less than a month after Kumail Nanjiani had been offered the third lead role in the upcoming ‘Men in Black’ spin-off, his casting has now been officially confirmed. Nanjiani will play Pawny, an “alien sidekick” to the film’s stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Hemsworth portrays Agent H, a suave, British Man in Black. Thompson’s character, Molly is an alien conspiracy theorist who is determined to join the MiB agency. Liam Neeson has also been cast in a secret but “very important” role. F. Gary Gray (‘Straight Outta Compton’) will direct. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment will produce, with a script by ‘Iron Man”s Matt Holloway and Art Marcum.
This will not be a reboot, but rather another movie set in the same world as the original three ‘Men in Black’ movies, which starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones and were directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. There is even some hope that Smith and Jones will appear in cameo roles.
Until last year, Nanjiani was best known for playing Dinesh Chugtai for five seasons on ‘Silicon Valley’ and for various guest appearances on ‘Portlandia’. He broke through into the world of films with last year’s autobiographical ‘The Big Sick’, which chronicled his wife Emily’s struggle with a life-threatening illness. Zoe Kazan portrayed Emily in the film, while Holly Hunter and Ray Romano played her parents. ‘The Big Sick’ was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. (It lost to Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’.) Nanjiani is currently filming the action comedy ‘Stuber’ which co-stars Dave Bautista, Betty Gilpin and Mira Sorvino. He is also attached to star in the upcoming war biopic ‘The True American’ with Amy Adams and Mark Ruffalo and will be contributing his voice to ‘The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle’. HBO has also renewed ‘Silicon Valley’ for a sixth season.
The new ‘Men in Black’ is scheduled to invade theaters on May 17, 2019.
Source: That Hashtag Show
