Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd to reunite with Director Ted Melfi in The Starling
According to Deadline, Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd are in talks to reunite with director Ted Melfi (Hidden Figures) on the film The Starling. The trio previously worked on the 2014 film St. Vincent starring Bill Murray and Naomi Watts.
The comedy, which landed on the Black List, was scripted by Matt Harris and follows a married couple as they deal with grief following a horrible tragedy. While the husband (played by O’Dowd) departs to grieve elsewhere, the wife, named Lily Maynard (played by McCarthy) stays home to tend to the garden he built for her in the backyard. The problem is: an enormous black starling has taken up residence nearby. Presumably, the film will deal with Lily’s attempts to rid her life of the bird, following the advice of a psychiatrist-turned-vet. Per Deadline, “the film is an allegorical tale of how love can carry one through grief.”
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The film is fully financed by Limelight with plans to start shooting this summer. Dylan Sellers, Chris Parker, Melfi and Kimberly Quinn will produce, while Alex Dong is executive producing.
The Starling was apparently positioned as a starring vehicle for Keanu Reeves and Isla Fisher at one point with director Dome Karukoski attached to direct, but that obviously never came to fruition. In fact, the script originally called for a male lead to battle the bird, but that has since been changed now that McCarthy has boarded the project.
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(Photo credit: Getty Images)
