When it comes to prehistoric beasts of unimaginable size and strength, there's a good chance that an eccentric billionaire is not going to be too far from the action. In the case of the new Jason Statham vehicle Meg, one such individual has accidentally unleashed a 40-ton Carcharodon megalodon, and he'll more than likely use some of that money to help kill and/or capture the titular beast as well. And as luck would have it, The Office's Rainn Wilson will be playing said role in the long in development film adaptation.
The good news comes from an item run on Deadline, in which Wilson has been pegged for the role of Jack Morris, the money man who accidentally releases Meg from her hiding place after his "undersea observation program" pokes around where it shouldn't. Warner Bros. has been trying to develop their adaptation of Steve Alten's sci-fi novel since the first installment was released in 1997. With the 20th anniversary of the book's release being marked next year, it's a hell of a time to finally get that first film off the ground.
Rainn Wilson is a pretty damned good choice to play Jack Morris, judging by the character description given above. One could imagine him playing a sort of goofy foil to Jason Statham's rough and tumble lead, whose money has put him out of touch with reality, and therefore requiring his ass to be saved by Statham's bad-ass time and time again. Of course, this is only valid if Morris' character isn't secretly the film's human villain, who may or may not be trying to capture the rare creature for monetary or personal gain. It could go either way with these eccentric moneyed types, so your guess is as good as ours.
Wilson's filmography is pretty varied, proving that he could easily play either a hero or a villain in Meg. Most notably, his roles in James Gunn's Super, as well as the more recent horror-comedy vehicle, Cooties, have both shown that Rainn Wilson can do the sympathetic, but misguided hero thing, as well as play the bad ass / loose canon who doesn't care much for your rules. Of course, if an all out villain is what the folks behind Meg want, they can certainly count on Wilson to deliver on that front as well, as he's played villains in Monsters vs. Aliens, as well as the upcoming film, Smurfs: The Lost Village.
It would be nice to see Rainn Wilson playing more of a goofy tech billionaire who turns into a solid resource for the hunting party that's in search of Meg, but we'll still take a darker, more serious Wilson, if it's what the film really wants to pursue. But don't expect us to completely shut out our secret desire for Dwight Schrute to rule the world, all thanks to a prehistoric beast in his possession.
Meg is penciled in for a March 2, 2018 release date.
