Sony Pictures and Blumhouse have courted ANT-MAN and EXTINCTION star Michael Peña to take on the role of Mr. Roarke for the upcoming film adaptation of FANTASY ISLAND. Set to be directed by TRUTH OR DARE helmer Jeff Wadlow, Peña is poised to assume the role played first by Ricardo Montalban, when the Aaron Spelling TV series was airing on boob tubes across the nation from 1977 to 1984 on ABC.
While the part of Mr. Roarke appears to have been squared away, we've yet to receive word as to who will play Roarke's sidekick, Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize in the original series), in the upcoming film. In the show, Tattoo acted as a mystical supervisor of the island who turned fantasies into a reality for a price for those who visited the mysterious locale. Created by Gene Levitt, FANTASY ISLAND saw visitors living out their wildest dreams and desires amidst a supernatural setting disguised as a welcoming paradise.
In addition to directing the film, Wadlow will find himself co-writing the project while in familiar company as TRUTH OR DARE scribes Chris Roach and Jillian Jacobs have also been attached to the project. Meanwhile, Jason Blum will produce with Ryan Turek overseeing for the studio.
Up next for Peña is a role in Clint Eastwood's THE MULE, which stars Eastwood as an elderly drug runner named Leo Sharp, a man in his 80s who is broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he’s just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. Bradley Cooper, Taissa Farmiga, and Laurence Fishburne are also set to star.
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