Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for “Anaconda,” now in theaters.
When co-writers Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten first pitched their reinterpretation of the 1997 classic Anaconda, they had no idea that Sony would buy into the idea.
“We went to them and said, ‘If we could turn ‘The Big Chill’ into ‘Anaconda,’ we’d be interested,”‘ Gormican said. “We expected them to laugh,[but]they bought it. It was one of those weird proposals where we say, ‘No, you guys can’t do this, you guys can’t do this.'” And they say, ‘We want to do this with you.’ ”
“Anaconda,” which will be released on Christmas, is also directed by Gormikan, but it is not a reboot, remake, or sequel to the original. While ’90s reptilian horror is a solid starting point for this film, the new “Anaconda” is something entirely different, centering not on the National Geographic crew but on a group of lifelong, middle-aged friends who head to the Amazon to film their own version of the original movie. Stars Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, and Thandiwe Newton soon find themselves fighting for survival against the world’s largest snake (this time even bigger thanks to CGI). And while it certainly follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, it was important for Gormican to tread carefully.
“It’s a story of two boats going up a river, right?” Gormican said. “Snakes basically crawl on land and in water. They can wrap themselves around you or bite you. So you’re trapped in the way the snake kills, you’re trapped in the structure of getting from point A to point B. That’s the parallel with the original…I have a lot of respect for the original. I love what they did.[But]I didn’t want to play in that sandbox.”
Instead, they upped the comedy elements and created what Gormican describes as “a buddy movie that becomes an adventure movie, then an action movie, then a horror movie.” (He cites “City Slickers” and “American Movies” as points of inspiration). “Audiences are just tired of not getting to see the original story,” he explained. “It’s been 10 years since we’ve been told that this is a remake of something we used to love, but there are limits to people’s nostalgia.”
“Anaconda” is also full of meta elements that poke fun at Hollywood itself. While the famously charismatic Rudd plays a struggling actor in Los Angeles, the ragtag group encounters a “real” Sony crew filming a reboot of “Anaconda,” who joke that Hollywood has “a lack of new ideas.” The characters also encounter original “Anaconda” star Ice Cube. Ice Cube is on a studio set destroyed by a snake, reprising his role. When they ask how the screenwriter intended to kill the reptiles in the movie, he replies that the script is not finished.
“It was an accurate reflection of what was going on,” Coach Gormican said. We ended up losing two locations during filming in Australia. The first was a factory that subsequently went on strike, and the second was a shipyard built by the staff, only to be destroyed by a cyclone. Some of the latter set actually appeared in the film, and what was left was used to finish the film. “We went in and (deliberately) made it look like it was vandalized,” Gormican explained. “And we said it was a snake.”
And while “Anaconda” doesn’t get too sentimental about its source material, it does make use of some familiar faces. In addition to Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez also has a cameo in the film, with both actors playing themselves. “We always thought it would be fun to have the surviving members participate,” Gormican said. Especially after my friends decided to meet up filming the reboot. “So we just kept reaching out.” Both eventually came on board and gave the film their thumbs up. And yes, they considered bringing back other ‘Anaconda’ actors, but ultimately it didn’t make sense: “If they died in the original, if their characters died, would they come back for the remake?”
Above all, with this new “Anaconda,” Gormican was dedicated to making a movie that felt fun.
“What was missing from my moviegoing experience was a movie for everyone, presented in a really fun and adventurous way,” Gormican said. “People are lamenting the loss of that common sense of watching comedy together. And I hope that with this film, people get a chance to experience that and maybe it inspires a younger generation to say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s actually what we want to do.'”
