Emily Blunt and Jaume Collet-Serra will reunite for something beyond a “Jungle Cruise” sequel. Deadline reports that actress and director will work together on “Kate Warne,” an action thriller for Amazon MGM. Dawyne Johnson‘s Seven Buck banner also fronts the project, making it the third Collet-Serra film it’s backed after “Jungle Cruise” and “Black Adam.” Currently, Blunt is only on board as a producer, but she’s looking to star in the picture, too; obviously, conversations about that can’t start again until the SAG strike lifts.
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But who is Kate Warne? Melissa Stack pens the script (with a first draft by Gustin Nash) of Collet-Serra’s film, about the real-life first female detective at the Pinkerton Agency who paved the way for women in law enforcement. Warne also did intelligence work for the US government during the Civil War, uncovering the Baltimore assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln in 1861. So effectively, “Kate Warne” will be a female-led detective story set in the mid-19th century US. That doesn’t sound too bad, and something that’s firmly in Ms. Blunt’s acting wheelhouse.
If Blunt signs on to lead the cast, it’ll be another action pic for the actress. She also has David Leitch‘s “The Fall Guy” on the way, set for a March 1, 2024 theatrical release. And it’s also another historical project for Blunt, too: “The English,” a limited series Western for BBC and Prime Video, is also set in the 1800s United State, but in the 1890s, later than Warne’s lifetime (the detective died in 1868). Other recent work for Blunt includes “Oppenheimer” and “Pain Hustlers.”
As for Collet-Serra, his next film is the action thriller “Carry-On” with Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman. Netflix will release the film sometime next year. And screenwriter Stack previously co-write “Godmothered” with Kari Granlund for Disney, as well as “The Other Woman” for 20th Century Fox. She’ll direct her first feature for them, too: “Family Vacation,” which Stack also writes.
On the production end of things, Johnson produces through Seven Bucks with Hiram and Dany Garcia, with Kimberly Bialek overseeing. Blunt produces through her Ledburry Productions banner. Kristina Sorensen also produces through With A K Productions. First draft-writer Nash executive produces.
Emily Blunt as a savvy female detective? “Kate Warne” sounds promising, but let’s hope the film doesn’t smack of Collet-Serra’s glossy, CGI-heavy visual style. But then again, Guy Ritchie‘s action-heavy “Sherlock Holmes” films did find an easy audience…