‘Jurassic World 2’ Adds ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Star Ted Levine
Those dinosaurs are gonna need a whole lot of lotion. Ted Levine, the actor best known for playing iconic creeper Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, has joined the cast of Jurassic World 2, undoubtedly inspiring all sorts of ill-advised fan-fic ideas for the Tumblr community. With Levine on board, the cast is reportedly finalized for the sequel, which is set to begin production this spring with director J.A. Bayona (A Monster Calls) at the helm.
Per Variety, Levine has joined an ensemble that includes career baddie Toby Jones, Rafe Spall and Justice Smith (The Get Down), along with returning stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. It seems unlikely that any of their other Jurassic World co-stars will reprise their roles in the sequel (Jake Johnson recently confirmed that he won’t be appearing in the follow-up.)
Universal has yet to release plot details for the sequel to Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 blockbuster, though both Bayona and Trevorrow have given us some idea of what to expect through various interviews over the last several months. Bayona, who also helmed the critically-acclaimed disaster drama The Impossible, has said that Jurassic World 2 will be both “darker and scarier” and more “fun” than its predecessor, and will feature more animatronic dinosaurs. Trevorrow, who co-wrote the screenplay for the sequel with partner Derek Connolly, has said that the story is a “parable” about modern treatment of animals:
The dinosaurs will be a parable of the treatment animals receive today: the abuse, medical experimentation, pets, having wild animals in zoos like prisons, the use the military has made of them, animals as weapons.
The first Jurassic World flirted with the idea of weaponizing dinosaurs via the nefarious character played by Vincent D’Onofrio. (Attentive Jurassic Park fans will also recall that there was once a sequel idea which involved dino-hybrids that carried actual guns.)
Jurassic World 2 is set to hit theaters on June 22, 2018.