Ansel Elgort Is in Talks to Star in DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
Ansel Elgort is a rising star in Hollywood who has appeared in films such as the Divergent trilogy and The Fault in Our Stars, which I thought he did a great job in. The young actor is currently in negotiations to take on what would be the biggest role of his career so far. It looks like there's a good a chance that he will take on the lead role in Warner Bros. big screen adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons.
The movie will be directed by Rob Letterman, who is behind such films as Shark Tale, Goosebumps, and Gulliver's Travels. Letterman doesn't spark a lot of confidence in the project, but the script for the action adventure fantasy film was written by David Leslie Johnson (The Conjuring 2). I just hope Letterman doesn't cast Jack Black in the movie.
I think Elgort is a solid actor, and this could be an awesome project for him. There's no word on who exactly he'll be playing, but the story is said to center on "a warrior and his band of mystical creatures as they embark on a dangerous journey to find a mythical treasure." Vin Diesel is a long time fan of the Dungeons & Dragons game, and he has expressed interest in being a part of the project as well.
When previously talking about the film project, WB executive Greg Silverman said it would be like Guardians of the Galaxy set in Middle Earth:
“This new Dungeons & Dragons will be a Guardians of the Galaxy-tone movie in a Tolkien-like universe. Because when you think of all the Hobbit movies and The Lord of the Rings, they have an earnestness to them, and to see something fun, a Raiders romp inside that world, I feel is something the audience has not seen before.”
Apparently, everyone working on the film is a fan of the game, especially the writer, so hopefully he manages to provide a solid script for the director to work off of. I'm curious to see how audiences react to this film because as awesome as I thought Duncan Jones' Warcraft was, American audiences didn't really seem to care for it. Dungeons & Dragons is in the same fantasy genre realm, only it doesn't have as good of a director as Warcraft did. Should be interesting.
Ansel has a couple of other upcoming films that he's completed already, including Edgar Wright's Baby Driver and James Cox's Billionaire Boys Club.
Source: Deadline