When it comes to projects that have been lingering in development for years, the mere chance that a hot performer might take it on is enough for studios to dig it out of the vaults, dust it off and throw it back on to the fast track. So it is with the adaptation of Janet Evanovich’s comedy thriller novel One For The Money, which now comes bearing Katherine Heigl’s name attached.
According to Variety, Evanovich’s first book to feature jobless lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has been in development for ages, almost since it became a hit back in 1994 and for a while looked like it might hit the screen with Reese Witherspoon as Plum. But when it didn’t come together, it vanished beneath the Hollywood murk once again.
Now, however Columbia Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment want to try again with their Ugly Truth star as Stephanie, re-writing the script for her and starting to track down a director.
They’ve got to be thinking franchise: since Money did so well, Evanovich has written several more novels featuring increasingly strained numerical puns (Finger Lickin’ Fifteen was the last one and there’s apparently another on the way).
Katherine Heigl as a blundering bounty hunter? Not sure we see it, but if she can help drive The Ugly Truth to box office success, surely this is within her reach.