EXCLUSIVE: Barbie actor and longtime SNL vet Kate McKinnon and Flight of the Conchords maestro Jemaine Clement are joining the mushrooming ensemble of Jared Hess’ Minecraft at Warner Bros.
Also news today is that Domain has boarded as a co-financier on the feature take of the Mojang videogame alongside previously announced Legendary.
McKinnon and Clement join Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Eugene Hansen as well as Jennifer Coolidge — most of whom Deadline told you about first.
The movie is shooting in New Zealand with screenplay credits to be determined on a storyline that’s buried deep in the earth. Producers are Roy Lee, Jon Berg, Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Jason Momoa, Torfi Frans Olafsson, Vu Bui and Jill Messick (posthumously). EPs are Todd Hallowell, Kayleen Walters, Brian Mendoza and Jonathan Spaihts.
Also producing with Warners and Legendary are Vertigo, Mojang/Microsoft and Momoa’s On the Roam.
McKinnon won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016 and 2017 and was nominated every year from 2014 until she left show in 2022. She returned to host SNL in December. Her feature credits include Bombshell, Yesterday, The Spy Who Dumped Me, 2016’s Ghostbusters and Office Christmas Party. McKinnon played Weird Barbie in Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing movie ever, Barbie ($1.44 billion). McKinnon is repped by CAA, Artists First and attorney Melissa Fox.
New Zealand native Clement counts such feature credits as Avatar: The Way of Water and Sony’s upcoming Harold & The Purple Crayon. He created and executive produces the comedy series Wellington Paranormal as well as What We Do in the Shadows. He is writing and executive producing the upcoming AppleTV+ series Time Bandits, based on Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film. He starred in An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn and appeared opposite Ben Stiller in Brad’s Status, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival. In television, Clement starred as Oliver Bird in FX’s drama series Legion, created by Noah Hawley. He is one-half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. Clement is repped by UTA, Jeff Endlich and Yorn Levine.