If you hadn’t already noticed, “Bridesmaids” earned a lot of cache for a lot of talent involved. Primarily star, co-writer/co-producer Kristen Wiig, but also break-out co-star Melissa McCarthy, who earned the rare Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar nomination for her hilarious turn in the film. Wiig parlayed her success into personal projects and a directing gig that’s coming up with the movie’s co-writer Annie Mumolo. And McCarthy has done much the same, only involving her comedian partner and husband Ben Falcone (both of whom are Groundlings alum).
Their upcoming gig is “Tammy,” which Falcone directed (his debut no less) and the two of them co-wrote. It’s about a woman (McCarthy) who hits the road with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother after losing her job and learning that her husband has been unfaithful. The comedy’s got a pretty terrific cast too: Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney, Dan Aykroyd, Mark Duplass, Gary Cole, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, Falcone and Sarah Baker, the scene-stealer from the last season of "Louie."
McCarthy and Falcone have a bunch of projects in the works, both together and separately. There’s “Spy,” a female James Bond-like comedy that will reunite her with Paul Feig the director of “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat.” And today Variety has revealed further details on three previously announced projects and one new one.
The totally new one is "The Memory of Running," a novel about a war veteran on a cross-country bike pilgrimage that they’ve acquired the rights to. Either of them could evidently direct, but it doesn’t sound like a starring gig (or much of a comedy) for either. There’s “Michelle Darnell,” the aforementioned Uni project, an adaptation of the book “Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives For 101 Days (No Excuses!)” and “Cousin Irv from Mars,” now retitled “Cousin Irv.”
‘Darnell’ is about a self-help inspiration speaker (a la Oprah) who goes to jail for insider trading (shades of Martha Stewart), and struggles to reinvent herself as America’s new sweetheart when she’s released. Not much is revealed about “Cousin Irv” but as you’d imagine from the title, McCarthy says the sex-laden “Just Do It” is “hugely graphic—like a medical film,” she quipped. “It’s so not that. It becomes endearing, even though it’s about sex. It’s more about a couple trying to get their relationship back to where it was.”
In the meantime, “Tammy” is right around the corner and WB have unveiled a zillion new photos, seven new clips and two TV spots. “Tammy” hits theaters July 2. Watch below.
