What you need to know
- Apple and Netflix are in a bidding war over the new Jennifer Lawrence film.
- The film will star Lawrence, who will portray legendary agent Sue Mengers.
Apple really wants Jennifer Lawrence to come to Apple TV+.
As reported by Variety, Apple is currently in a bidding war with Netflix to win the streaming rights for a new film starring Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence is set to portray Sue Mengers, a "legendary super agent who donned a caftan-like a suit of armor and wielded a joint like a mace while trying to get the best deal possible for her A-list clients."
According to the report, bidding for the project has reached as high as $95 million.
Paolo Sorrentino, an Oscar winner for "The Great Beauty," is attached to direct from a script by Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo and John Logan. The film will be produced by Excellent Cadaver, Lawrence's production company, as well as by her producing partner Justine Polsky. Bidding has reportedly eclipsed $80 million and there are some mutterings it has reached $95 million, which means a big payday for Lawrence, Sorrentino and company, one that they likely would not receive from studios interested in pesky things like, say, ticket sales.
This would not be the first time that Mengers has been portrayed. The agent has already been portrayed, or at least inspired, roles in both Broadway and film.
Bette Midler memorably played Mengers on Broadway in the one-woman show "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers," which was also written by Logan (he just can't quit this 10-percenter). Dyan Cannon also played a role of a barrier-breaking agent that was heavily inspired by Mengers in the 1973 mystery "The Last of Sheila."In her heyday, Mengers represented the likes of Candice Bergen, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, Ali MacGraw, Steve McQueen, Ryan O'Neal and, most famously, Barbra Streisand (they would split over Streisand's insistence on making "Yentl" and Menger's dubious decision to push Streisand to star in "All Night Long," a dud that was directed by the agent's husband, Jean-Claude Tramont).
It is currently unclear exactly who is leading the bidding war between Apple and Netflix, or if there is still time for an unknown third bidder to come in and win the project.
Apple TV+ continues to slowly build its original content and attempt to attract new subscribers with some enormous deals and notable star power like Leonardo Dicaprio, Robert DeNiro, Reese Witherspoon, Brendan Fraser, Anne Hathaway, Jared Leto, and more.
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