Edgar Wright Thought Aubrey Plaza Was the Next Lara Croft After Seeing Her On A Magazine Cover

Can you imagine Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey Plaza as Lara Croft?

No? Well, Edgar Wright sure can. In fact, the Shaun of the Dead director thought Plaza was the next in line to play Lara Croft in a new Tomb Raider movie after seeing her on the cover of MovieMaker magazine where she appeared dead serious, wearing what he thought was a tank top, Croft's preferred outfit.

The Tomb Raider movies, based on the popular video game of the same name, previously starred Angelina Jolie and later Alicia Vikander in the title role.

 “My friend Edgar Wright actually saw that and texted me and said, ‘Oh my God, you’re the new Lara Croft? You’re the new Tomb Raider?’ That’s the character in Tomb Raider.’ And I was like, ‘No, Edgar. That’s my movie, Emily the Criminal,” said Plaza during her appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday (Aug 8).

Plaza added, “And he genuinely thought I was cast as the new Tomb Raider. And then I looked it up and they actually are casting this role right now. And I was like, ‘Well there you go. The new Tomb Raider, whatever.'”

This anecdote was later confirmed by Wright, who tweeted, “This is 100 percent true".

Fallon later did a side-by-side comparison of Plaza’s MovieMaker cover and a production still of Jolie in 2003’s Lara Croft: Cradle of Life.  “I could actually see this happening,” he said. (As do we. All Plaza needs to work on is her British accent.) 

If you haven’t already heard, Vikander is no longer playing Croft after MGM returned the Tomb Raider rights to producer Graham King’s GK Films after owning the IP for nine years. A sequel to 2018’s Tomb Raider was in the works with Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green as director but that went kaput following Amazon's acquisition of MGM in March 2022.

And if you have trouble wrapping your head around Plaza doing action, then should check out her new movie Emily the Criminal, where she plays the title character who resorts to crime to settle her debts, and Guy Richie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, where she stars as CIA operative opposite Jason Statham.

“I’ve always wanted to be in an action film,” Plaza said in a Total Film interview in February. “I grew up very athletic. I was always playing sports. It’s not something I ever thought would actually happen. But it’s definitely something I’ve always dreamed of.”

At time of writing, neither Emily the Criminal nor Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre has a Singapore release date. Plaza will next be seen in Season 2 of The White Lotus, coming to HBO in October. Watch Plaza's The Tonight Show interview here: