Edgar Wright Congratulated Aubrey Plaza on Tomb Raider Role She Didn’t Actually Get

It was a bit awkward when Aubrey Plaza received a text message from her filmmaker friend Edgar Wright congratulating her on landing the coveted role of Lara Croft in the next Tomb Raider movie, as she hadn’t actually been cast for the part. These days, Plaza can be seen in the new film Emily the Criminal which features the Parks and Recreation star as a woman saddled with debt who gets involved in a credit card scam.

In promotion of Emily the Criminal, Plaza was featured in her titular role on the cover of MovieMaker Magazine. She happens to resemble Lara Croft in the image, and that managed to capture Wright’s attention. As Plaza tells the story to Jimmy Fallon during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Wright had even texted her an excited congratulatory message before finding out that the image wasn’t for a Tomb Raider movie.

“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?’ And I was like, ‘No, Edgar, that’s my movie Emily the Criminal.’ He genuinely thought I was cast as the new Tomb Raider.”

Coincidentally, it was just recently revealed that the next Tomb Raider movie will introduce someone new in the role after MGM lost the film rights to the video game. Because it turns out that casting for that role just so happens to be underway, Plaza teases that the potential casting just might work out after all.

“It’s funny because I didn’t actually… I looked it up and they are actually casting this role right now, and I was like, ‘Well, there you go. The new Tomb Raider, whatever.'”

Related: Emily The Criminal: Plot, Cast, and Everything Else We Know

Student Debt Turns Emily Into a Criminal in Emily the Criminal

In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb, we previously spoke with Plaza about her new film and her character. She touched on how viewers may be able to relate to Emily as so many others know what it’s like to be drowning in debt, perhaps especially so when it comes to student loan debt.

“I think there is a lot of commentary in the film,” said Plaza, “I think you’re seeing a character up against a broken system. She’s drowning in debt, student loans specifically, and I think a lot of people today can relate to that…. There are a couple of scenes that really highlight this. There are some job interview scenes in the film where you kind of get to see the nuances of the broken system we’re currently living in, and I think there’s something relatable about how she navigates that and turns on it. The movie is not preachy in any way, but it definitely hits a nerve with something that’s going on right now.”

Emily the Criminal is now available from Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment. The film is written and directed by John Patton Ford. Along with Plaza, it stars Theo Rossi, Bernardo Badillo, Jonathan Avigdori, Kim Yarbrough, and Gina Gershon.