If you don't already know who Jake Johnson is, give it a few months and that will likely change. Already set with two significant roles in 2011 - the best friend of Ashton Kutcher's character in No Strings Attached and the drunk younger brother of Uma Thurman's character in Ceremony - Johnson has a few projects already lined up including an unnamed television series at Fox with Zooey Deschanel and a film called Safety Not Guaranteed with Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass. And he's not done yet.
Variety reports that Jake Johnson has landed a lead role in 21 Jump Street. Based on a script by Jonah Hill (who also stars) and directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the film is an adaptation of the 80s teen drama series that first launched Johnny Depp's career. The plot centers on a division of the police department that employs young-looking cops to infiltrate high schools. The film also stars Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Brie Larson, Rob Riggle, DeRay David and Dave Franco.
The article doesn't say what character he will be playing (they simply say that he's been "cast as a principal"), but I get the feeling that he will probably be one of the young cops, which seems a bit off (he doesn't look old, but I also wouldn't confuse him with a 17 year old). Then again, maybe Variety's lingo is just confusing me and he's actually playing the school principal. I have no idea.
