With one hit already (I****dentity Thief, which scored with audiences even if the reviews were generally negative) and a hopeful-looking follow-up in The Heat, Melissa McCarthy is having what you could happily call A Very Good Year. She’s also now close to taking another choice part, which boasts the chance to work opposite Bill Murray in St Vincent De Van Nuys.
Murray has taken the central role of a cantankerous old guy, corrupted by his vices and his addictions, who somehow becomes a decent caretaker for a 12-year-old lad who moves in next door with his struggling single mother (McCarthy, assuming she takes the role). While our hero seems like the worst person in the world to care for a child, the friendship they strike up ends up benefitting them both.
Ted Melfi is behind the St Vincent script, and he’s set to kick off filming later this year. McCarthy will be busy until then, as she’s preparing to co-direct Tammy, the script she wrote with husband (and Bridesmaids co-star) Ben Falcone. That one sees her playing a woman who loses her job and finds out her husband is cheating on her on the same day, and decides to get away from it all by hitting the road with her boozy grandmother (Shirley MacLaine).
McCarthy will next be seen, as mentioned above, in The Heat opposite Sandra Bullock, while Murray will grace both George Clooney’s The Monuments Men and (naturally) Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. In case you needed a refresher as to Murray’s awesomeness, please to be checking out our feature tracking down 58 Unbelievable Murray Moments…