School can be a tough time for many people – especially if you’re in a US high school film and not among the popular crowd. Arrested Development/Scott Pilgrim’s Mae Whitman is about to have that experience, entering negotiations to star in **The D.U.F.F.
Adapted from Kody Keplinger’s coming of age tome by Josh A. Cagan, The D.U.F.F. focuses on a high school senior who has her world rocked when she learns that she has been labelled the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, the one who never quite matches up to her prettier, more popular pals.
In a drive to combat this obnoxious stereotype, she kicks off an attempt and re-invention, and leads her fellow D.U.F.F.s in a campaign to challenge the school’s chilly evil queen. Evil in this case being the smug, self-satisfied leader of the popular set, not an actual monster; this isn't another Jennifer's Body.
McG has been developing the movie since 2010, and has Ari Sandel in line to direct it. With the cast now coming together, the cameras should be rolling this summer in Atlanta.
Whitman, who was last seen on the big screen in The Factory and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, will crop up in Dolphin Tale 2 and is part of the voice cast for the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV ‘toon series.