Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Will Meryl star in a 2019 Blacklist script?

Each December, I like to scour the latest Hollywood Blacklist of best unproduced screenplays. The number of projects (based on their taglines at least) that would involve women "of a certain age" in a leading role, tend to be slim. Of course we all know that Streep ended up getting her 21st Oscar nomination for 2017's The Post, which was also a Blacklist Script (still holding out for Nyad).

From this year's list, I spotted two potential scripts that could feasibly attract Meryl's eye. The first, entitled Pod, was written by Nabil Chowdhary. The tagline reads:

"After a mission to destroy a black hole that endangers mankind goes wrong, an astronaut awakens in her escape pod to find that decades have passed seemingly in a moment. Now, with an old body and fragile mind, she battles against the elements of space and time to complete her mission."

"Old body" is perhaps not the most flattering term, but it also suggests that it would be a role for someone over sixty. Also, it would maybe be an opportunity for sci-fi?  Yes, The Giver likely landed close to that category, but that movie also sucked. 

The second, entitled Grandma Wants to Die and written by Patrick Cadigan, reads:

"When Ben is left footing the bill for his own wedding just weeks before the big day, he’s forced to make a deal with his estranged grandmother Minnie. She’ll give him the money if he signs the papers for her assisted suicide. Ben gladly agrees, only to unearth Minnie’s final agenda before she departs... destroy the wedding from the inside and seemingly ruin Ben’s life."

While Meryl is over seventy now, this may be a bit too old for her. And maybe not...(see Aunt March in this year's Little Women).  Sounds like this role could actually be a complex, interesting character, and maybe even a bit of a psychological thriller?

With The Prom currently filming, we know of no other new projects that Meryl is scheduled to film in 2020. Will The Nix ever happen? Maybe some other limited series? A third season of Big Little Lies?  

Always fun to speculate! Regardless of what happens, next year should be another interesting one. 

5 comments:

  1. A little nugget of an update on The Nix landed in this Variety article today, and it's not a positive one [four paragraphs from the end] https://variety.com/2019/tv/features/tv-star-salaries-reese-witherspoon-cardi-b-chris-evans-1203439736/

    Love to speculate also! I'm thinking yes to another limited series, and I hope not another season of BLL - as much as I love it, that's precisely why I don't want another! Those early photos of The Prom have me hyped.
    I've got a suspicion that HBO Max will use Meryl and Soderbergh's film as part of their launch offerings spring 2020, unless it's awards fodder.

    Thanks for the great year, happy holidays and here's to a new year of Streep love!

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    1. Thanks for the info on The Nix! Not sure it means it's dead, but agree, it's not promising. I also sort of agree about BLL. Even if they do third season, I tend to doubt Meryl will be in it. And I bet you're right about the HBO Max debut! Hope it does better than Meryl's first pairing with Soderbergh.

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