Melissa McCarthy Won't do a Bridesmaids Sequel Without Kristen Wiig But Will Star in Tammy
Posted 01.10.12 by Ryan
Last week, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Universal Pictures was considering doing a sequel to its break-out comedy hit Bridesmaids without co-writer and star Kristen Wiig. "We aren't working on that," Wiig succinctly told the publication. "[Co-writer] Annie [Mumolo] and I aren't planning a sequel. We are writing something else."
Universal clearly would like a sequel, after Bridesmaids surprisingly grossed $288 million in worldwide box office, so the studio reportedly took Wiig to dinner to convince her of the sequel's necessity, but the Saturday Night Live actress didn't bite (on the sequel). That hasn't exactly slowed Universal's interest in a possible Bridesmaids 2. "We are over the moon with the success of Bridesmaids, and if we do a sequel we want to get it right," a Universal rep told THR. "We are talking to filmmakers now about concepts, and if the right one emerges, we'll move forward."
In lieu of Wiig, Universal co-star Melissa McCarthy as a "key player" for another Bridesmaids, however, McCarthy recently told E! Online that she has little interest in working on Bridesmaids 2 without Wiig.
God, I wouldn't want to. I would never want to. I think it's a terrible idea. I don't know anything about it, but I know that nobody wants to do it unless it's great. If it is, I will show up wherever those ladies are.
Bridesmaids was also the biggest box office success for producer Judd Apatow (director of Knocked Up and Funny People), and while a source claims that Apatow won't return for a sequel without Wiig, either, Apatow was more confident in a statement to THR that a sequel might be worked out./p>
The key is we have to come up with an idea that is as good or better than the first one. We don't want to do it unless it can be great. I don't think anyone has had the brain space to think about it yet. Hopefully that can begin this year.
McCarthy, meanwhile, has recently set up another comedy, Tammy, at New Line. According to Variety, the movie will follow the Mike and Molly actress as "a woman who loses her job at Hardee's (Carl's Jr. to those on the West Coast), finds out that her husband is cheating on her and goes on a trip with her foul-mouthed grandmother." McCarthy wrote the movie with her husband Ben Falcone, who also appeared with McCarthy in Bridesmaids. Saturday Night Live director Beth McCarthy (no relation) has signed on to direct the movie.
McCarthy will also appear in Apatow's Knocked Up spin-off This is Forty this December and will shoot ID Theft with Jason Bateman in April for Universal.