Though the descriptive phrase “chick flick” is disparaging on its face, its meaning is still universally understood, and few writer-directors over the years have been as skilled at the genre as Academy Award nominee Nancy Meyers. And as she moves through her 60s, there's pretty much no one else making chick flicks that transcend age and generations, allowing older female like Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton to have the kind of rom-com success usually reserved for women half their age.
Now, it seems, Meyers will be at it again (don't ever say she doesn't know where her strengths are). Deadline reports that Meyers has just closed a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment to direct an as-yet-untitled project that will mark her return to Columbia Pictures. Though her last film, 2009’s divorced couple romance It’s Complicated, was made for Universal, Meyers worked with Columbia on the two films she’d previously written and directed, 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give and 2006’s The Holiday/I>. She’ll also be pulling double duties for this film, as she rewrote a script previously developed by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber, the duo who wrote (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now, which just screened at SXSW.
The new film will follow an American woman’s tumultuous new relationship as she finds herself getting involved with a young British male who seems like the unlikeliest partner for her, and they find that the complexities that arise from their relationship prove more difficult than either could have expected. The film will take place entirely in a UK setting, and beyond the American female lead, the rest of the cast will be comprised of only British actors.
“We are thrilled with the way this project has turned out,” said Columbia president Doug Belgrad, “and we’re especially excited that Nancy intends to make it her next film. This is the kind of movie that Nancy does better than anyone else and we can’t wait to share this new movie with audiences all over the world.”
