Still A Few Hurdles To Clear Before It Goes Into Production
We’re big fans of comic-turned-actress Aubrey Plaza. She was a refreshingly different love interest, albeit underused, in Judd Apatow‘s “Funny People,” she walked away with her scenes in “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” and she’s shown surprising range on NBC’s excellent “Parks and Recreation.” While our Aubrey-Plaza-for-Lois-Lane campaign hasn’t yet gained any traction (give it time…), we’re as pleased as anyone with today’s news that she’s graduating to fully blown film lead.
Cinematical report that the Austin Film Festival staged a reading over the weekend of a teen-comedy entitled “The Hand Job.” The script, by comic Maggie Carey (behind the online video series “The Jeannie Tate Show“), landed on last year’s Black List, and the film looks to be inching towards production with producer Jennifer Todd (“Memento“) shepherding it. The public reading saw actors like Jessica Alba, Colin Hanks, Bill Hader (who’s married to Carey), and “Spy Kids” stars Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara take part and, while few, if any, are guaranteed to be involved when the film goes before cameras, Plaza, who read the lead role, is officially attached to the project.
The semi-autobiographical plot of the sure-to-be-R-rated comedy is set in 1993, and involves a recent high-school grad who decides to pick up more sexual experience before she heads off to college. The script’s crude, funny and sweet, like a female take on “Superbad,” and, after the success of “Easy A,” we can see why it’s moving forward.
As Cinematical point out, Plaza, at 26, is significantly older than her 17-year-old character — this obviously marks the first time in Hollywood history that someone in their twenties has played a high schooler. Financing’s currently being sought, as well as other cast members, and we’ll hopefully see this moving forward in the next few months.
