Melissa McCarthy earned another hit at the box office this summer with The Heat, in which she teamed up with Sandra Bullock. She’s moving from cop comedy to a spy comedy with Susan Cooper and director Paul Feig is joining her.
According to TheWrap, the Mike & Molly actress is in early talks to join the 20th Century Fox project which could be a new franchise. It’s set to be similar in tone to The Heat, which shouldn’t be too hard to realize if Feig is directing this as well.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Susan Cooper is an original idea from Feig and will find McCarthy as a female James Bond. He’ll also produce under Feigco Entertainment with Jessie Henderson.
McCarthy recently starred in The Heat, which grossed $40 million on its opening weekend, on its way to $133 million domestically. That followed the success of Bridesmaids, which earned McCarthy an Oscar nomination. She also starred in Identity Thief earlier this year and that also made over $100 million.
The only roadblock for Susan Cooper may be her commitments to CBS’ Mike & Molly, which was renewed for another season. Once the schedule gets figured out, she could sign on.
McCarthy is working on St. Vincent de Van Nuys and just finished Tammy, which was made with her husband and co-writer Ben Falcone.
image: CBS