Much like fellow comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2, directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's 22 Jump Street will be doing at least some of its casting with cameras already rolling. Production began at the very end of last month with only returning stars Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Ice Cube attached - along with newcomer Amber Stevens - and now that the movie is getting into the second full week of its shooting schedule it's added another name to the roster of actors. According to The Hollywood Reporter, young actor Craig Roberts has signed on for the 21 Jump Street sequel, though at this time his role in the film is a bit of a mystery.
Based on a script developed by Hill and Michael Bacall, 22 Jump Street picks up where the first movie left off and finds partners Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) continuing their undercover work at the local university. On the job the partners end up getting separated, the former joining the football team and the latter falling into the art major clique, and must work to both solve the cast and remain friends. Ice Cube will be back to play Captain Dickson, Stevens will be Hill's love interest. THR says that Roberts will be playing a character named Spencer, but fails to mention how he fits into the plot (given that the actor is only 22, we can probably assume he will be one of the college students).
Roberts, who comes from Wales, got his big break in 2010 when he starred in Richard Ayoade's directorial debut/indie sensation Submarine. Since then he has split his time between the big screen and small, taking roles in series like Becoming Human and Skins and being featured in movies like Red Lights and Ayoade's upcoming movie The Double (which just recently debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival). You can get a taste of Roberts' talent with the trailer below.
The young star most recently finished work on the upcoming Seth Rogen-Zac Efron comedy Neighbors (in which he plays a fraternity brother named Assjuice), but also has the Jamie Adams-directed comedy Jolene: The Indie Folk Star Movie and Dan Beers' Premature (a movie that sounds like Groundhog Day meets American Pie) coming down the pipe as well.
Unlike 21 Jump Street, which debuted in March when it was released last year, the sequel will be part of next year's host of summer R-rated comedies - a group that also includes the aforementioned Neighbors, Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways To Die In The West and Jake Kasdan's Sex Tape. Look for 22 Jump Street in theaters on June 13, 2014.
