Joining her former castmates Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Bill Pullman (The Equalizer), actress Vivica A. Fox has officially announced her reprisal of the role of Jasmine Dubrow in the upcoming action sequel Independence Day 2. The original 1996 film’s director, Roland Emmerich, will also be returning to helm the production, which aims to start shooting in May 2015.
Fox tweeted yesterday about her involvement:
The actress is known for another classic role – the cold-hearted Vernita Green in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) – and spent the decade after Independence Day dabbling in both film (Ella Enchanted, The Slammin’ Salmon) and television projects (1-800-Missing, HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm).
Director Emmerich also sent out a tweet about Fox’s participation in the sci-fi sequel, and seems excited to have so many of the original cast members on board. On top of Goldblum, Fox, and Pullman, Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) and Jessie Usher (When The Game Stands Tall) will star in Independence Day 2, with Usher playing Dylan- the grown up son of pilot Steven Hiller (the roguish captain played by Will Smith in the original). However, despite Usher’s involvement as Dylan, Smith will not be rejoining the production. Charlotte Gainsbourg (Nymphomaniac) has also been announced as a player in the sequel.
In a 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Emmerich divulged some tidbits of information regarding the plot of Independence Day 2, confirming that the movie will take place 20 years after the initial alien invasion within a parallel universe, made possible when the humans “harnessed all [that] alien technology”:
The humans knew that one day the aliens would come back, and they know that the only way you can really travel in space is through wormholes. So for the aliens, it could take two or three weeks, but for us that’s 20 or 25 years.
Emmerich has made an overwhelmingly successful directorial career out of American disaster movies since his 1996 blockbuster, and with his collection of films raking in over $3 billion in international grosses, the director was ranked in the same box office echelon as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as of 2013. Emmerich’s signature style is easily recognizable and on display in big budget action/thriller films such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 10,000 B.C. (2008), 2012 (2009), and White House Down (2013).
And as for an Independence Day 3? 20th Century Fox has for years been keen on the idea of pairing the second and third installments together. But although ID 2 is finally off the ground, the third movie in the potential trilogy has been put on the backburner until studio execs are positive of the sequels’ success. Writer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate) quotes:
We decided just to do one first to make sure that people like where we’re going. If that works well, there’s an ability to do some world building which would be really fun and interesting to do…We said you know what, let’s scale it down. Let’s first make sure that it works for everyone.
Independence Day 2 can be seen in theaters June 24th, 2016.
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