As reported by Deadline, Rainn Wilson has signed on for a “lead role” in Meg, director Jon Turteltaub’s adaptation of Steve Alten’s book about a giant prehistoric shark rampaging off the coast of China. Wilson will be playing a “tech billionaire,” which has become a stock character type in movies like these right alongside the “gruff badass,” the “nervous science guy,” the “jerk who turns out to be a coward,” the “secret villain,” and the “one who dies.” Wilson’s tech billionaire will be the person whose “underwater observation program” is responsible for unleashing the giant shark, and it’ll be up to Jason Statham—the gruff badass—to hunt down and kill the beast.
Deadline says Fan Bingbing will also be appearing in the film, since it’s usually a good idea to actually have Chinese people in a movie that takes place in China. Also, as we reported earlier this month, Orange Is The New Black’s Ruby Rose is in talks to join the film as an “edgy engineering genius,” which is a stock character type we forgot to mention up above.