Aubrey Plaza has shared that she's open to playing Lara Croft in a possible future Tomb Raider project, in response to Edgar Wright’s recent fan casting. The actress, comedian, and producer, with over 80 acting credits, is widely known for her role as April Ludgate in the sitcom Parks and Recreation. In addition to her TV roles, Plaza has also been in several films, like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Monsters University, Ingrid Goes West, and Black Bear. Her most recent film, Emily the Criminal, for which she also serves as producer, just landed in theaters.
Recently, while promoting Emily the Criminal during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Plaza shared that Wright, who worked with her in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, texted her after seeing her on the cover of a magazine, promoting Emily the Criminal. Wright saw the ensemble she was wearing in the picture, and in registering it as the outfit Lara Croft is known for sporting, he thought she had been cast as the new Lara Croft. This is especially timely, given that development on the 2018 Tomb Raider sequel film was recently canceled, due to MGM losing the film rights for the character, prompting the need for a new cast and crew if a different studio gains the rights and decides to make another film.
Now, in an interview with Newsweek, Plaza has shared more about her exchange with Wright, noting how funny it is that the top she's wearing and the purse she's carrying resemble a Lara Croft-esque costume featuring her gun holster. Plaza went on to express that she's actually indeed open to the idea of Wright's fan casting, detailing how she would love to play an iconic and badass character like Lara Croft. Read her full quote below:
"Look, I have no idea what the future holds for me, but I love it. It was so funny when [Wright] texted me that because I didn't realize how strikingly similar those photos are. Emily is carrying a purse strap and Lara Croft has a gun holster, those are very different. But it's very weird and totally accidental, but I'll take it. I love action movies, and I don't discriminate against big movies or small movies. I love all kinds of movies. I would love it if somehow that turned into a real thing, but who knows, I have no idea. That's an iconic character. She's the original badass."
Based on the character of the ongoing Tomb Raider video game franchise, Lara Croft is a British archeologist, who travels around the world looking for artifacts and exploring dangerous tombs and ruins. With two sets of Tomb Raider live-action films in the books, the iconic baddie has been played by Angelina Jolie in two films of the early 2000s, as well as by Alicia Vikander in the 2018 reboot film. With Vikander now out due to the MGM rights fallout, the possibility for a new Lara Croft sometime in the future exists, so it's definitely not just something of a dream for Plaza.
With support from a well-established director like Wright, along with Plaza's extensive and successful career as an actress, the role of Lara Croft is looking like a pretty reasonable possibility for Plaza. Audiences may know her mainly for her comedic roles, but she actually has a variety of genres in her filmography, including thrillers, dramas, horror, mystery, and action projects. Plaza's recent film Emily the Criminal, in particular, included a handful of tense sequences, definitely contributing to giving her a leg up in taking on the Tomb Raider role. All that said, Plaza could definitely pull off the role of a clever and headstrong badass character, like the iconic Lara Croft.
Source: Newsweek