Emerald Fennell, who wrote and directed Promising Young Woman, is sprucing up the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina. The news was revealed by the film’s star Ana de Armas during a recent interview for Elle magazine.
The initial script for Ballerina was written by Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum) and director Len Wiseman. However, upon being cast in Ballerina, de Armas sought to hire a female writer to tweak the script. “It was really important for me to hire a female writer, because to that point when I got involved in the project, it was only the director, Len Wiseman, and another guy. And I was like, ‘That’s not going to work.’ So I interviewed, like, five or six female writers. We hired Emerald Fennell, which I was so proud of,” the actress told Elle.
For de Armas, it’s important that she’s closely involved behind the scenes during the process for Ballerina, which is why bringing in a female writer was vital. However, it remains to be seen whether or not Fennell will receive credit for her work on the script. As Variety states, that decision will ultimately be decided by the Writers Guild of America.
Ballerina follows de Armas’ young female assassin as she seeks revenge against those that killed her family. As of this writing, further details regarding the film and its cast remain unknown. It is the second spinoff from the John Wick franchise, however, as Mel Gibson is set to star in the television series spinoff, The Continental, for Starz.
Ballerina is yet another high-profile job for Fennell, who recently served as the showrunner on Killing Eve Season 2 and is set to pen a Zatanna film for DC and Warner Bros. – assuming that project is still in the works.
Source: Variety
