Brie Larson's best performance last year came in the indie drama Short Term 12, in which she played the heartbreaking, dysfunctional head of a foster-care home for wayward kids, but after making audiences cry she's now ready to make them laugh again. The actress is now in talks to join Trainwreck, the new comedy starring Amy Schumer that is being directed by Judd Apatow.
First announced last August and based on a script written by Schumer, the R-rated comedy will follow a woman who has managed to make a complete wreck of her life and the story will follow her efforts to rebuild it (it's not much, but it's what we've got). Variety, which first announced the Larson casting news, doesn't say what role she will be playing, but previous reports suggest that she could be playing Schumer's "best friend/colleague." Bill Hader is also on-board the project as the male lead, having previously worked with Apatow playing bit roles in both Knocked Up and This Is Forty.
Larson is one of the few young actresses out there who has managed to successfully go back and forth between drama and comedy, last year alone doing both Short Term 12 and The Spectacular Now while also playing roles in Don Jon, and episodes of both Community and The Kroll Show. Coming up later this year she will be starring alongside Donald Sutherland and Scott Bacula in the musical comedy Basmati Blues - which doesn't have a release date yet - and she is also attached to star in Rupert Wyatt's remake of The Gambler, which will also feature Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Michael K. Williams and more. Back in January she signed on to star in The Good Luck Of Right Now, which is based on the new book from Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick.
Universal Pictures currently has Trainwreck slated to be released on July 24, 2015, which means that we can expect production on the film to start up later this year. The film promises to be more of a return to straight comedy for Apatow, and I look forward to seeing what he and Schumer collaborate to create. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Schumer's work, you can familiarize yourself with her sense of humor by watching some of her standup in the clips below:
