It’s been miiiighty quiet on the Annie front, and a miiiiighty long time since the internet had an opportunity to digest the idea of Willow Smith portraying Annie. I thought that the movie did the stumble and dance into development hell, but it seems that I was wrong as we’re learning today that Emma Thompson is penning the script!
Source: Jo Blo
Vulture is reporting that Emma Thompson, Oscar-winning writer Emma Thompson, has signed on to write the script for Smith and Jay’s ANNIE. It may seem like an odd pairing but Smith has been working with Thompson on MEN IN BLACK 3 where she plays a new character that has taken over for Rip Torn as the head of the MIB division (her character is played in younger years by Alice Eve).
At this time there’s no deal for Thompson to star in the film as well but it seems an almost foregone conclusion that she’d star as the boozy and cruel Ms. Hannigan, head of the orphanage where Annie lives (and made famous by Carol Burnett in the original movie).
From Nanny McPhee to Ms. Hannigan, eh? That’s a mighty big image change but who am I to complain when talent is added to a production? I think this is news is pretty exciting and actually resurrected this movie back to preliminary ‘radar’ status, but there’s still more details that need to be revealed prior to anything become more stable.