Adding to an already star-studded cast, comedy favourite Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus, American Pie, Legally Blonde) has been confirmed to join Jason Momoa and Jack Black in the upcoming Minecraft movie.
The news comes off the back of a successful Emmy campaign for Coolidge’s turn as Tanya in HBO’s The White Lotus: Season 2, winning the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Her win, combined with an overwhelmingly positive online response and the subsequent casting announcement, seem to demonstrate that the Jennifer Coolidge renaissance (or ‘Jenaissance’, as coined by Vogue in 2022) is still in full swing.
Per Deadline, the Minecraft film will be directed by Jared Hess – best known for Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre – and is currently shooting in New Zealand. Other notable cast members include Emma Myers (Wednesday, The Family Switch), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple, Orange Is The New Black) and Sebastian Eugene Hansen (Just Mercy, Lisey’s Story).
Slated for a 2025 release, it’s still early days for details about the film itself. Aside from a synopsis on IMDb – “The malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, prompting a young girl and her group of unlikely adventurers to set out to save the Overworld” – precious little has been confirmed by the creative team.
This includes a glaring lack of insight into the specifics of who the cast will be portraying, though speculation is rife that Jack Black will be stepping into the skin of Steve.
The limited information has done nothing to lessen excitement, however, and given Minecraft is one of the biggest video games of all time – with millions of active players worldwide – it’s safe to say that expectations are high.
