It’s not unheard of to see predominantly comedic actors venture out into more dramatic roles and Melissa McCarthy, who broke out in Bridesmaids, is one of the latest examples. The actress showed off her more serious side in the film Can You Ever Forgive Me? That role would even gain her Academy recognition with a nomination for Best Lead Actress. Additionally, she is also slated to star in an upcoming limited series drama about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey as Patsy Ramsey, with Clive Owen co-starring as her husband.
The Playlist is reporting that McCarthy is now in negotiations to star in a new thriller with Connor Storrie, who has gained acclaim from the show Heated Rivalry. The thriller is titled Turpentine and it comes from Craig Zobel, who has an impressive resume with HBO that includes working on Mare of Easttown, Westworld, The Leftovers and The Penguin. He has also worked on films like The Hunt and Z for Zachariah. The plot is said to involve “a deadbeat son who hires friends to rob his own parents to pay off a bookie, with disastrous results.”
Zobel will be directing from a Black List script by Justin Varava. Turpentine is set to be produced by Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman‘s T-Street alongside ShivHans Pictures. T-Street’s previous production credits include Wake Up Dead Man, American Fiction, Fair Play, Snack Shack and the former Peacock series Poker Face.
While Storrie is making waves in Heated Rivalry with co-star Hudson Williams, the two aren’t limiting their partnership to that show as they are also working together on an audio drama called Ember & Ice. Ember & Ice is a three-episode audio erotica series telling the sweaty tale of “Dane and Finn, two fae princes from the rival Solari and Lunare kingdoms,” a press release teases. Still, as the saucy series blossoms, it’s clear that the princelings are more than enemies as audiences become “an intimate observer to every moment of tension, longing, and intimacy between Dane and Finn.” “At its core, Ember & Ice is a story about choosing love in defiance of expectation,” the release concludes.