'Devil Wears Prada' Screenwriter Tapped for 'Annie' Reboot
Aline Brosh McKenna, the screenwriter behind "The Devil Wears Prada," will rewrite the screenplay for Sony's planned reboot of "Annie," an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
The project, which is still in development, is being brushed up as a possible vehicle for Will Smith's daughter Willow Smith. McKenna will draw on both the hit Broadway musical and the comic strips that first introduced the plucky orphan for the adaptation.
The film will be produced by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Overbrook Entertainment, the production house run by Will Smith, James Lassiter and Ken Stovitz. If the project comes to fruition, Jay-Z will "re-imagine" the music, much as he did when he re-fashioned the Broadway show's "Hard Knock Life" into an anthem of urban poverty.
Best known for her work on romantic comedies like "27 Dresses" and "Laws of Attraction," McKenna was hailed in an exhaustive New York Times profile last year as a writer of Cinderella stories for the Blackberry set of professional women.
Also read: Meryl Streep Reunites with 'Prada' Director for Couples Therapy Comedy
The project came out of a joint venture Overbrook formed with Jay-Z to develop and produce major motion pictures.
The Broadway musical "Annie" was based upon the popular comic strip and featured songs with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan. The show originally opened on April 21, 1977, and was adapted into a 1982 film directed by John Huston and starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett and Aileen Quinn as Annie.
McKenna is represented by CAA.
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