The latest example of how some films need more time in the development oven than others comes via comedy drama The Starling. Once a project that had Keanu Reeves and Isla Fisher attached and Dome Karukoski directing in 2017, it has now changed hands to filmmaker Ted Melfi, who is looking to reunite his St. Vincent stars Melissa McCarthy and Chris O'Dowd.
Matt Harris' script sees a married couple losing a child. The wife goes to a recovery centre to work on her grief, leaving her husband alone at home. Throwing himself into a project he hopes will help them both, he decides to build a beautiful garden at their home, only to find his work interrupted by an aggressive starling. The man consults a vet to see if he can find some humane way to get rid of it, but the medical professional he visits turns out to be a former psychologist who helps the husband deal with the situation as much as he offers advice on the bird. According to Deadline, Melfi is looking to switch up the situation, with McCarthy's character staying home, building the garden and trying to deal with the bird
McCarthy has mob drama The Kitchen arriving on 20 September and comedy Superintelligence due (across the pond at least) on 20 December. O'Dowd will be seen in Caitlin Moran adaptation How To Build A Girl, which has yet to secure a release date here or in the US.
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