After a fairly long development process, the revamped movie version of the musical Annie is now coming together. Quvenzhané Wallis is already attached to star as the titular orphan, with Cameron Diaz as the horrible Miss Hannigan, and Jamie Foxx as Daddy Warbucks.
Now they may be joined by Rose Byrne, as Variety reports that she’s in early talks to play Grace, Warbucks’ assistant. Ann Reinking played the role in John Huston’s 1982 film version.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see what they do with the music in this version, as Will Smith and Jay-Z have been working behind the scene to update the score, although it’s not known yet quite how contemporary the tunes will become and whether we’ll get a hip-hop version of Tomorrow.
The plot remains the same though, with orphan Annie having a hard-luck life in the foul orphanage run by Miss Hannigan. She’s then taken in by the filthy rich Daddy Warbucks, who initially doesn’t really want her, but soon falls for the plucky youngster’s charms.
Will Gluck is directing from a screenplay he is currently rewriting, which was originally written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Emma Thompson. Annie is currently set for release December 25th, 2014