‘Pacific Rim 2’: Charlie Hunnam Set to Reprise His Role, Guillermo del Toro Working on the Script
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro revealed recently that he is currently working on a script for a prequel of the international summer hit "Pacific Rim." The "Crimson Peak" director claimed that he is working with screenwriter Zak Penn ("X-Men: The Last Stand," "The Incredible Hulk") on a screenplay for "Pacific Rim 2."
"I'm working very, very hard with Zak Penn," del Toro told Buzzfeed in an interview while promoting his new FX series "The Strain" at the Austin Television Festival. "We've been working for a few months now in secret. We found a way to twist it around. Travis Beacham [co-writer of the first film, now working on Fox's Hieroglyph] was involved in the storyline and now I'm writing with Zak because Travis has become a TV mogul."
Del Toro also revealed that "Sons of Anarchy" Charlie Hunnam will reprise his role as Raleigh Becker and Mako Mori as Rinko Kikuchi following the story of the previous movie. "Some people were wondering if we were going to do the prequel. I was never interested in doing that first wave of invasion," the "Hellboy" director explained when asked if the new project is a prequel of the original movie.
Buzzfeed reports that "Pacific Rim" got an impressive $309.2 million internationally and $101.8 million in the United States but Legendary Pictures is not yet giving its green light to produce "Pacific Rim 2." "I don't have the money, but I'm proceeding like it is happening," del Toro revealed as he takes his own route with the film.
"I'm going for very new, very crazy ideas on the second one, which are very different from the first one, but you will get really great spectacle," he added.
According to Legendary Pictures Chairman of the Board, Thomas Tull, "Pacific Rim" did not quite hit their expectations but the project is still a success compared to other films. "If there's another great story to tell with Guillermo then we're all over it because we think it's really hard to create one of these things from scratch," said Tull in an interview with iamROQUE in mid-May posted on Latin Post.