Jennifer Aniston appears set to star in Anne Fletcher’s upcoming mother-daughter beauty pageant comedy Dumplin. Deadline reports the Emmy and Golden Globe winner (and forever “friend”) will headline the upcoming music-driven comedy (read as in the spirit of teen hits Pitch Perfect and Bring it On) based on Julie Murphy’s admired young adult novel. Fletcher has formidable comedic chops, having previously directed the Sandra Bullock blockbuster The Proposal (2009) and the hit Katherine Heigl romantic comedy 27 Dresses (2008).
Deadline further reports that Dumplin is intending for a summer production start. The story centers around a plus-sized teenage devotee of Dolly Parton named Willowdean. To the behest of her mother Rosie – a former beauty queen and leader of a local Texan pageant – Willowdean and her friends join in on the pageantry as a form of protest. The joke as it were backfires as suddenly a crew of outsiders and misfits join in as well – of which affirms a newfound sense of appreciation and respect between mother and daughter. Perhaps shades of the the cult late ’90s film Drop Dead Gorgeous abound as well.
Kristin Hahn penned the screenplay and will also serve as one of the film’s producers.
Aniston is being south for the role of Rose while the role of Willowdean is still to be cast. Aniston was last seen in the comedy Office Christmas Party and appears in the Sundance entry The Yellow Birds alongside Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!), Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse) and Toni Collette (xXx: The Return of Xander Cage).