Deadline was the first to report that Oscar winner Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) appears to be in talks to join a gender-reversed remake of the 80s Steve Martin-Michael Caine comedy classic Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The film is set up at MGM with Pitch Perfect alum Rebel Wilson already attached, along with a screenplay penned by Jac Schaeffer (TiMER).
The original 1988 comedy – directed by Frank Oz – told the side-splitting tale of two con artists attempting to swindle an heiress from her fortune. The reboot would see Wilson (and potentially Hathaway) as the swindlers – one of high creed and one of not – trying to scam a tech prodigy. Coincidentally, this wouldn’t be the first gender flipped swindler on Hathaway’s slate, as she’s currently on the roster of Gary Ross’ all-star female bent Ocean’s Eight. A recurring theme there is. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has yet to have a director lined up but with Hathaway’s potential casting, appears moving in the right direction. Wilson is also a producer on the title through her Camp Sugar Productions shingle.
Hathaway was last seen on screen in last summer’s Alice Through the Looking Glass and has appeared in the box office hits Interstellar and The Intern since winning an Academy Award for her supporting turn in Tom Hooper’s 2012 musical blockbuster Les Misérables. She will next be seen in the genre-smashing oddity Colossal, a major curiosity piece on the 2016 fall festival circuit, and has the aforementioned Ocean’s Eight on arrival. Hathaway is also attached to star in WB’s The Shower, which has a script from Schaeffer.
We shall stay tuned to the latest on the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.