Aquaman and Emmy-winning Watchmen star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is a lot of things onscreen. Dazzling as a superhero villain, doting as a superhero’s husband, and now— he’ll be deviously daring in his upcoming project, Ambulance.
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Per Variety, Abdul-Mateen will star opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the action thriller, with production set to begin early next month. The film follows two brothers on the run from the police who steal an ambulance in an attempt to evade capture. Unbeknownst to them, the vehicle also carries both a female paramedic and a patient in critical condition. Chris Fedak, who wrote the original script based on the Dutch film Ambulancen, will also pen the script for Transformers producer-director Michael Bay.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 star posted about his excitement on Instagram with a screenshot of the announcement and the culturally relevant caption, “Ambalamm,” complete with a fitting ambulance truck emoji. (Sidebar: if you didn’t joke and call the ambulance truck an “ambalamm” growing up—did you even have a good childhood?)
Abdul-Mateen has no doubt been staying booked and busy despite the pandemic. He recently wrapped production of the Matrix 4 in Germany and he’ll also be starring in Nia DaCosta’s long-awaited Candyman, the latter of which is now expected to drop August 27, 2021, after its initial release date was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He’ll also be flexing his fighting skills again in the Aquaman sequel, which is projected to hit theatres (and hopefully home streaming services) in December 2022. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the New Orleans native had this to say about reprising his role:
We have a date of December 2022. Hopefully, that will hold. Black Manta will be back—I feel confident in saying that. I’m excited to step into that world again and cause some more trouble. I really want to add more personality and more character to David Cane and flesh him out in Aquaman 2 and give him more of a journey.
Speaking of personality and character, Yahya arguably already has that down pat. The actor posted a video *cough, thirst trap, cough* of himself doing some early prep for the upcoming role by getting his waves on swim. “#Aquaman 2 prep!! Black Manta gonna need some Waves,” he wrote.
You know what? At this point, I have no choice but to root for the bad guy. Do you see that smile? This is now a Black Manta stan account. Sorry, Jason Momoa.
Straight From 
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