One of the biggest, dumb action movies of the 1990's is getting a sequel, and the cast has just gotten a little bigger.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Charlotte Gainsbourg will be joining the cast of Independence Day 2. Gainsbourg is known largely for her work with Lars von Trier including Nymphomaniac, Melancholia and Antichrist. No word yet on who Gainsbourg's character might be, but let's hope she might be given a cool action hero role to break up the traditionally male dominated nature of these kinds of movies.
So where are we with Independence Day 2, exactly? Well, the film will also star Liam Hemsworth and Jessie Usher, as well as Jeff Goldblum reprising his role from the original film. Roland Emmerich is also returning to direct the movie and presumably blow up even more national monuments. The screenplay was written by James A. Woods and Nicolas Wright.
Here's the catch, though: Will Smith will not be returning for the film, as we previously reported. Instead, Jessie Usher will be sort of filling in for him, playing the son of Smith's character in the first movie.
The Independence Day sequel is expected to be the first part of two sequels to the original movie. It's apparently being referred to as ID Forever Part I, as we previously reported, but who knows if Fox will actually stick with that ungainly name.
Independence Day was released in 1996, and it's the definition of brainless fun. It centers around an alien attack on Earth, with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum fighting back against the invaders. What's not to love? The film was really Will Smith's breakout role as an action star, though he did star in Bad Boys the previous year. Independence Day was a far bigger hit though, grossing $817 million. That's a pretty insane amount of money for 1996, and so it's actually pretty strange that it took this long for us to see a sequel.
But will the movie be nearly as fun without Will Smith? The fact that Jeff Goldblum is back definitely gives us some hope, but Independence Day was a movie that didn't really take itself too seriously. Are Liam Hemsworth, Jessie Usher or Charlotte Gainsbourg up to the task of pulling off that brilliant mastery of action-comedy that Will Smith was able to bring to all his films?
Independence Day 2 will be released on June 24, 2016.
photo via INFphoto.com