Last month, Fox 2000 (a sibling of 20th Century Fox) purchased the spec script “He’s Fucking Perfect” from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay production company shingle Gary Sanchez. Penned by newbie scribe Lauryn Kahn, THR reported the story to be about a pessimistic woman in love who uses the Internet to research her friends’ dates, report back and weed out the losers. However, her role gets turned on its head when she encourages a friend to dump a date only so she can steal him for herself, and then uses her social media savvy to transform herself into his ideal girl.
We must say, it’s a pretty clever and comical premise, using girl-on-girl cattiness and competitiveness to deliver laughs and life lessons ala “Bridesmaids” (easily the most relatively mature female comedy in ages in what it tries to offer about the difficulties of female friendships and relationships).
So with a strong premise – that reportedly sold for $1 million, not bad for a first timer – and strong producers on board (Ferrell and McKay), a project like this can and will attract good talent. To wit: Deadline reports that Emma Stone (“Easy A,” “The Amazing Spider-Man“) is in talks to play the female lead.
Also, while Kahn is a total newb, she’s proof that those with a small foot in the door and some wherewithal can get ahead in the film industry – she’s acted as McKay’s assistant at Gary Sanchez for several years now. Someone’s yearly review is going to have “exceeds expectations” plastered all over it. In fact, she leaves leaves that job tomorrow to write scripts full time. Guess who’s going to get a first-look at those pages?
A deal for Stone coming on board apparently looks promising, which is going to make Kahn’s rags-to-riches story one of the most memorable in Hollywood in recent years. Wait, did you hear that sound? A thousand old screenplays just got dusted off and pulled out of drawers. Hold all my calls…