Geez, today seems to be the day for Melissa McCarthy news. She's already made her feelings known about a "Bridesmaids" sequel without Kristen Wiig, and it seems is putting the massive comedy hit in the rear-view as her first major project after the blockbuster movie is now beginning to take shape.
Variety reports that Beth McCarthy-Miller (no relation) will go behind the camera for "Tammy," Melissa McCarthy's comedy project over at New Line that has been brewing for much of 2011. Co-written by Ben Falcone, the hard R film follows a seemingly hopeless person named Tammy, whose directionless life isn’t going as planned. She decides to quit her Hardee's job and get out of town, but will need to use her grandmother’s car. The catch? The hard-drinking granny insists on coming along in what is ultimately a journey of self-discovery.
McCarthy-Miller is a long time comedy veteran, helming over two hundred episodes of "Saturday Night Live," countless standup specials and TV shows. Yes, those are all different things from a feature film, but she has comedy timing down to a science, which is probably the biggest factor here. "The Help" director Tate Taylor was previously eyeing the gig, though ultimately moved on, and somehow, McCarthy-Miller seems a better fit.
No word yet on when this will lens but with MM's break from "Mike & Molly" coming up soon, she'll be eager to get some projects scheduled on her calendar. "ID Theft" with Jason Bateman was slated to be her sitcom hiatus movie, but not much has been heard about that project in a while. So we'd guess this one is next.