Fresh off a well-received trailer for Blumhouse’s upcoming remake of ‘The Invisible Man,’ Universal Pictures have enlisted Elizabeth Banks to direct another one of their upcoming monster movie updates, ‘The Invisible Woman.’
Banks, whose previous directorial efforts include ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ and the recent ‘Charlie’s Angels’ reboot, will direct a screenplay from ‘The Girl on the Train’ writer Erin Cressida Wilson. The film, based on Banks’ original pitch, will reportedly strike a tone that’s described as “’Thelma & Louise’ meets ‘American Psycho.’”
Further, Banks will star as the titular character in the film. She is popular for starring in Lionsgate’s ‘Hunger Games’ franchise and Universal’s ‘Pitch Perfect’ trilogy. In addition to writing, directing, and producing the new ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ she portrayed one of the many Bosley characters in the film. Next, she will appear in the FX/Hulu miniseries ‘Mrs. America,’ premiering next year.
This is another step in the plan to bring creative directors with distinctive visions to the classic Universal monsters characters. In other words, the studio mercy killed the interconnected ‘Dark Universe’ in favor of director-driven films.
Universal has a few other monster-themed projects in development, with Paul Feig’s ‘Dark Army’ and Dexter Fletcher’s ‘Renfield.’
Thus far, no casting announcements, release dates, nor filming dates have been announced.
Jacob Tyler contributed to this article.