While Richard Linklater has always bounced back and forth between studio projects and indie movies, you have to go back to 2005’s “Bad News Bears” to find his last full-fledged picture for a major Hollywood outlet (not counting indie arms). However, in the wake of the success of “Boyhood,” it is interesting to see how the studios are coming back to Linklater. Paramount is distributing this next movie, which was just dated for spring 2016, and now Sony is eyeballing the filmmaker.
Deadline reports that Linklater is the frontrunner to direct “The Rosie Project” starring Jennifer Lawrence. Phil Lord and Chris Miller were originally attached before they got too busy conquering Hollywood, and I have to say, this seems a little safe and dull for Linklater. Based on Graeme Simsion‘s bestselling book, with a script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (“The Spectacular Now,” “The Fault In Our Stars“), this is a romantic comedy about a scientist who thinks he’s put together the formula for the perfect match, until he meets someone who turns his whole theory upside down.
READ MORE: Jennifer Lawrence To Star In Adaptation Of ‘The Rosie Project’
We’ll see if this pans out, and Linklater has directed films he hasn’t written before, so don’t think that will be a factor in his decision. However, I can see working with one of the biggest stars in Hollywood being a prospect too good to pass up, and Lawrence in a Linklater picture? Even with a premise as bland as this, I’d be interested to see the result.