Ice Cube’s Nod at the Anaconda Premiere Felt Like a Papal Blessing to Paul Rudd

I did not have 'Paul Rudd gets knighted by Ice Cube at an Anaconda premiere' on my holiday bingo card, but here we are. A new, knowingly meta take on Anaconda hits theaters on Christmas Day, and the movie just got a very specific thumbs-up from the guy who helped make the 1997 original a cult favorite.

Ice Cube gives the new Anaconda his blessing

At the reboot's premiere, Rudd said Ice Cube pulled him aside and signed off on what they made. Cube also walked the red carpet with the cast and pops up in the film for a cameo, which makes the whole thing feel like a neat circle for Rudd, who clearly grew up on the original.

'It means everything. That is like being blessed by the Pope,' Rudd joked. 'You go over, you kiss the ring and he gives you a pat on the head and says, "Good job, son."'

So what is this new Anaconda, exactly?

Director Tom Gormican leans into a winky, 'we know what we are' approach. Instead of pretending the first movie never happened, this one is about the kind of people who loved that movie so much they try to remake it themselves. Sony's setup is pretty simple: best friends Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) hit midlife, decide to finally shoot their DIY remake of their favorite flick, head into the Amazon... and then a real giant anaconda shows up, turning their chaotic fan-film into an actual fight to survive. Natural disasters, massive snakes, and some very unfriendly criminals crash their set. The bit where 'the movie they're dying to make might literally do them in' is not subtle, and that is kind of the point.

• Jack Black (School of Rock) as Doug, an ex-aspiring director now stuck shooting wedding videos
• Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) as Griff, an actor whose brief cop-show moment is in the rearview while the Hollywood dream fades
• Thandiwe Newton (Westworld) and Steve Zahn (Joy Ride) as the childhood friends who jump in on the misadventure
• Selton Mello (Bury Your Dead) as a Brazilian animal wrangler
• Ione Skye (Zodiac) as Doug's wife
• Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad) in a role the studio is keeping under wraps
• Ice Cube makes a cameo

Gormican co-wrote the script with Kevin Etten. The producers are Brad Fuller, Andrew Form, Kevin Etten, and Tom Gormican, with Samson Mücke on board as executive producer.

A quick refresher on the 1997 original

The first Anaconda teamed Ice Cube with Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stoltz, Owen Wilson, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Trejo, and Jon Voight. The plot was gloriously simple: a National Geographic film crew gets hijacked by a deranged hunter obsessed with capturing a record-breaking, very kill-happy snake. It was pulpy, it was loud, and it knew exactly what it was doing.

The new one slithers into theaters on Christmas Day. Given the pedigree and the meta angle, I am curious whether it lands as a crowd-pleasing chomp or just a knowing grin. Either way, consider me ready for some holiday hiss-teria.