Jim Carrey has entered negotiations to take on the villain role in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
A live-action/CG Sonic movie is development at Paramount, with James Marsden (Westworld) and Tika Sumpter (Ride Along) confirmed to star. Carrey, reports Deadline, is in talks to be play game villain Robotnik, aka Doctor Eggman.
Robotnik is the lead antagonist in Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The character was created by Naoto Ohshima and was originally created as one of the many designs for Sega’s new mascot. Once Sonic the Hedgehog was created, Ohshima went back to his Robotnik design and developed him into the villain of the ’91 Sonic game, and thus he became Sonic’s archenemy in the overall franchise that would unfold. The egg-shaped baddie is a mad scientist who wants to take over the world to build his own Eggman Empire.
The film is to be directed by Jeff Fowler, making his feature debut following his animated short Gopher Broke, which earned him an Oscar nomination. The script has been written by Patrick Casey (12 Deadly Days) & Josh Miller (National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze).
The Sonic the Hedghog film is currently scheduled to open in the US on November 15, 2019 and will arrive in Australia on December 12, 2019.
Carrey was recently seen in the widely derided thriller Dark Crimes and will soon be seen in Showtime series Kidding, which reunites him with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry.
