Anaconda reboot taking a meta approach?

Three and a half years ago, Sony’s Columbia Pictures announced that they were developing a reboot / reimagining of the 1997 “nature run amok” thriller Anaconda (watch it HERE), with the intention of “taking what was a simple and relatively cheap programmer with a B-movie concept and event-izing it in scope and budget”. Early last year, we heard that Tom Gormican would be writing (and possibly directing) the film as his follow-up to the well-received action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which starred Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. Now industry scooper Jeff Sneider of The Hot Mic video podcast has dropped the rumor that this new take on the concept of Anaconda might be taking a meta approach.

The original Anaconda was directed by Luis Llosa from a script by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash, and Jack Epps Jr. It had the following synopsis: Filmmaker Terri Flores is traveling deep in the Amazon jungle looking for a forgotten tribe. Terri and her crew, which includes an anthropologist and a cameraman, come across Paul, who is stranded on the riverbank. He offers to help them find the tribe, but his secretive behavior puts everyone on edge. They realize too late that he’s using them to find a legendary anaconda that’s worth a fortune — if they can catch it. That one had an impressive cast list that included Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, Owen Wilson, Kari Wuhrer, Vincent Castellanos, and Danny Trejo.

On The Hot Mic, Sneider said (with thanks to our friends at Bloody Disgusting for the transcription) – with the caveat that “Nothing is official and anything could change” – that “Anaconda is going to be a meta movie. And from what I understand… it’ll be something close to this… this isn’t the actual logline… it’s going to involve an actor or actors playing loose fictional versions of themselves who go off to make an Anaconda movie. All hell breaks loose.“

While Gormican is working on the script, Sneider doesn’t think the directing deal has been closed yet. He also said that there are no actors attached, despite last year’s rumor that Paul Rudd and Pedro Pascal had been offered roles in the Anaconda reboot.

What do you think of the idea of the Anaconda reboot going meta? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.