Though she is only 24 years old, Jennifer Lawrence has already had the opportunity to work with some truly amazing directors - and for her next film, The Rosie Project, she may get the chance to add another esteemed name to that list. According to reports, the movie is now eying Boyhood filmmaker Richard Linklater to helm.
Deadline has the news on this development, but there's no mention of whether or not an offer has been extended to the Austin-based director yet or if negotiations have begun in earnest yet. Should he sign on, Linklater will be replacing A-listers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who first became attached to The Rosie Project a little less than a year ago, and will be working with a script from duo Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber (The Spectacular Now, (500) Days of Summer).
Based on the novel of the same name by Graeme Simsion, The Rosie Project centers on a genetics professor named Dr. Don Tillman - who is an extremely anxious fellow who could almost be diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Knowing that his social anxiety will likely prevent him from ever meeting a compatible woman, he begins to scientifically strategize how he can meet his perfect match. This results in the creation of a questionnaire he calls The Wife Project, and he intends to use it to find someone who is "punctual, non-drinking, non-smoking female who will fit in with his regimented lifestyle." Instead, his little experiment leads him to meet Rosie (Jennifer Lawrence) - a barmaid and free spirit who is on the hunt to find her biological father. She is the opposite of everything he is looking for... but may actually be his perfect match.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller were forced to drop the film from their slate after they signed on to the Han Solo movie that was announced a few weeks ago, leaving the door open for Richard Linklater to potentially take over. After earning incredible praise for Boyhood, Linklater has most recently been working on Everybody Wants Some, a baseball comedy that is said to be a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused (a project that has been dated for release in April next year). As a filmmaker, he is best known for his independent work, but he has taken studio projects before - most notably the PG -13 remake of Bad News Bears starring Billy Bob Thornton.
The Rosie Project seems to still be in the very early stages of development, but should Sony be able to get Richard Linklater on-board the movie could get on the fast track (who doesn't want to see a Richard Linklater movie starring Jennifer Lawrence?) Hopefully we'll have more updates about this film soon, so stay tuned for more info.
