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EXCLUSIVE: Can you dig it?Victorious alum Avan Jogia has been cast in New Line’s reboot of Shaft. He joins previously announced cast members Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp and Richard Roundtree.
Details about Jogia’s role have been kept under wraps, but Tim Story will direct a script from Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow which will follow a nerdy FBI agent launches his own investigation after his friend dies under suspicious circumstances. Needing help with the case, he reluctantly enlists the help from his estranged father — the legendary, stuck-in-the-80s-but-still-cool-as-hell titular John Shaft.
As Deadline exclusively reported when the project was announced, New Line and Netflix are partnering on this film with Netflix financing more than half the film’s high $30M budget for international rights and will stream Shaft outside of the U.S. after New Line releases it theatrically domestically. Barris will serve as producer alongside Davis. Marc Fischer and Ira Napoliello have signed on as Executive Producers.
Jogia can be seen next in Rebecca Addelman’s feature directorial debut Paper Year as well as the comedy The New Romantic. He is repped by Link Entertainment, ICM and Darren Trattner at JTWAMM.
Shaft is slated for a June 14, 2019 release date.
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Deadline
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