Elizabeth Banks May Direct Charlie’s Angels Reboot
Good morning, angels! Yes, in yet more reboot news, it seems another big screen take on ‘Charlie’s Angels’ is in the works - and a certain big-name actress-turned-director is in talks to direct it.
Variety report that Elizabeth Banks has entered into negotiations with Sony to take the helm of a new movie centred on the iconic, high-camp, high-fashion crime-fighting trio employed by the enigmatic and unseen Charlie.
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Best known for her appearances in front of the camera in the ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Pitch Perfect’ movies, Banks made her feature directorial debut with this year’s ‘Pitch Perfect 2.’
‘Charlie’s Angels’ started life in the Aaron Spelling-produced TV show of the late 1970s, whose varying line-up included Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, Tanya Roberts, and most famously the late Farrah Fawcett.
The franchise was spectacularly revived for the big screen in 2000 with Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu. A second film, ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,’ followed in 2003.
These films marked the first features from director McG, and were noted for their excessively flashy visual style, wire-fu action, and low humour - and dogged by rumours of on-set tension between Liu and co-star Bill Murray, who appeared as Charlie’s go-between, Bosley (but skipped the sequel).
Most recently, ‘Charlie’s Angels’ was revived for a 2011 TV series, which misguidedly ditched the camp and aimed for a more gritty, realistic tone; unsurprisingly it was cancelled early on.
With a ‘Wonder Woman’ movie on the way from director Patty Jenkins (herself replacing first choice Michelle MacLaren), and Marvel strongly rumoured to be looking at a female director for their own ‘Captain Marvel,’ there does seem a drive in Hollywood right now to put female directors at the helm of female-centred films.
Banks has made little secret that her decision to turn director was largely motivated by Hollywood sexism, so it’s certainly a shrewd move on Sony’s part to get her on board ‘Charlie’s Angels.’
Her existing body of work would suggest Banks can certainly bring the sense of humour the property requires, though there might be more of a question mark over how well she’ll handle the action side.
Still, we’ll be following the development of this one with interest - particularly once we get some hints of which trio of actresses will play the “three little girls who went to the police academy” this time around. Might Banks herself take one of the leads as well as directing?
Picture credit: Universal, ABC, Sony
