Now that she's a bonafide superstar capable of pushing a critically-panned film like Identity Thief well above $100M, Melissa McCarthy is showing off her diversity with raunchy comedy, Tammy. After courting others to direct it for awhile, McCarthy will make her directorial debut alongside her husband Ben Falcone, while also having written the script and taking the lead role. Shirley MacLaine had been courted for months to join the film, but those talks have broken down, only for an actress of equal stature to possibly step in.
Susan Sarandon is in talks to play the hard-drinkin', foul-mouthed grandmother in the film, which centers on the titular fast food employee who gets fired from her job, then discovers that her husband has been having an affair. Deciding to clear her head and rediscover herself, she decides to drive up to Mt. Rushmore with her politically incorrect grandmother riding shotgun.
Adding to his jam-packed schedule, indie breakout Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed) has also come aboard the film as a guy Tammy meets and forms a strange relationship with. Lastly, Kathy Bates (Misery) is set to play Sarandon's lesbian friend, who bails them out of some tough spots.
The prolific Sarandon seems to be everywhere of late, having appeared in six films last year with another five lined up in 2013. She recently starred opposite Dwayne Johnson in Snitch, and will be seen next month in The Big Wedding. Duplass, best known as the writer/director of indie comedies such as Cyrus and The Puffy Chair, has been moving into the mainstream of late. He co-directed the Jason Segel comedy Jeff Who Lives at Home, and recently had a small role in Zero Dark Thirty. [THR/Deadline]
