Canadian-American actor Jim Carrey, here seen at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2017. — AFP Relaxnews
The part of Doctor Robotnik, the ovoid evil mastermind of the Sonic The Hedgehog series, could go to The Mask star Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey will be joining James Marsden of Westworld and X-Men in an adaptation of speedy SEGA video game franchise Sonic The Hedgehog, according to Variety.
Debuting in 1991 as a fast-paced response to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros, the franchise has expanded to over 50 entries in the nearly three decades since.
As well as Marsden, Tika Sumpter of the Ride Along franchise, Gossip Girl, and Southside With You has already been cast, but Carrey is the first actor associated with a specific role.
Envisioned as a synthesis of live-action and CGI, the film is to centre around Sonic and his friends Tails the fox and Knuckles the echidna.
As usual, they will be involved in foiling the diabolical plans of the overly authoritarian Robotnik, also known as Dr Eggman.
Directed by Jeff Fowler, who was involved in the animation side on Where The Wild Things Are, the award-winning short from Deadpool director Tim Miller, 2003's Rockfish, and co-directed the 2005 Oscar-nominated animated short Gopher Broke, Sonic The Hedgehog has been announced for a November 2019 theatrical release in the United States, Australia, and select European territories.
Following his breakthrough in sketch comedy series In Living Color, Jim Carrey became a comedy film fixture through mid-90s hits Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a CGI-spectacular The Mask, as well as Dumb And Dumber and Batman Forever.
The Truman Show, a 1998 film about living as the unwitting subject of a popular reality TV series, cast Carrey in a more serious role, as did 1999 comedian's biopic Man On The Moon and 2004 head-trip Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind; more recently, he was almost unrecognisable in an uncredited role in 2016 wilderness survival story The Bad Batch. — AFP Relaxnews
