Variety reports Fox Searchlight has picked up the potential Reese Witherspoon dark comedy Nice based on the Jen Sacks novel of the same name. Published in 1998, the book follows the story of a magazine writer who accidentally kills her boyfriend. She finds a way to get rid of the body and discovers that killing boyfriends is easier than breaking up with them.
Helen Hunt was actually attached to the project 11 years ago when it was at Warner Bros. Apparently that project never came together as WB tried to lighten the tone, but Ben Queen is set to adapt the novel now with all intentions of maintaining the dark, edgy tone of the book. Witherspoon is currently set to produce, but her acting participation is not guaranteed.
Witherspoon’s upcoming slate appears to be relatively open outside of voice work in Pixar’s The Bear and the Bow. The only acting work I see on her slate is Downsizing for Alexander Payne and some potential features with James Brooks and Cameron Crowe.
The second quick casting note comes from The Hollywood Reporter with word Matthew McConaughey is lining up Exchange Student as a potential starring vehicle, a comedy about two college freshmen going in opposite directions. Mike Vukadinovich is aboard to pen the script.
The story revolves around two exchange students, one who ships out from the U.S. and one who comes in, who experience new environments in very different ways: One has the time of his life, the other goes off the rails. The tenor of the project is described as a family comedy with wry overtones a la Wes Anderson.
McConaughey will be seen opposite Jen Garner in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past on May 1.
