Last year, Crazy Rich Asians’ Awkwafina and Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan collaborated for the first time via Jumanji: The Next Level, where they starred alongside Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black, among others. Now Awkwafina and Gillan are preparing to team up again on an action-comedy titled Shelly, and word’s come in that the movie has a home.
According to Deadline, Amazon Studios has acquired Shelly, which started to be shopped around back in late June. It’s unclear whether Shelly will get some kind of theatrical release or if it’ll solely be distributed on the Prime Video streaming, but either way, this is a big step forward for the project. Amazons Studios’ recent distributed features include 7500, My Spy and Chemical Hearts.
Shelly follows two women who attended high school together: Awkwafina’s Shelly Wheeler and Karen Gillan’s Dianna Park. Taking place a decade after Dianna pulled a traumatizing prank on Shelly that resulted in her leaving town, Shelly returns to old stomping grounds as a hardened assassin. In a twist of fate, Shelly’s next target is Dianna, but when the latter unexpectedly ends up befriending the former, the two women must work together when another crew of killers is tasked with eliminating them both.
Along with Awkwafina and Karen Gillan as the main stars, Shelly also has Liz Storm attached to direct and Michael Doneger writing the script. The movie, which will be produced by Ian Bryce Productions, is tonally described as “Mean Girls meets Barry.” There’s no word yet on when filming will begin, but fingers crossed more casting information is revealed in the near future.
Along with their time together on Jumanji: The Next Level (which, like 2017’s Welcome to the Jungle, was a commercial powerhouse with its $800 million worldwide haul), Awkwafina and Karen Gillan also share the Marvel Cinematic Universe in common. Gillan has played Nebula in the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and Awkwafina will appear in next year’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, although it hasn’t been officially announced yet who she’s playing.
As far as their separate, recent professional endeavors go, along with starring in the Comedy Central series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Awkwafina has appeared in The Farewell, Paradise Hills and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and her other upcoming movies include Raya and the Last Dragon and the live-action Little Mermaid remake. Karen Gillan has shown up in Stuber, All Creatures Here Below, Spies in Disguise and The Call of the Wild, and she’ll next star in Gunpowder Milkshake.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on how Shelly is coming along. In the meantime, find out what movies are already on the calendar with our 2020 release schedule and 2021 release schedule.
