Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet, with an Oscar under her belt and two big franchises to her name in The Hunger Games and X-Men. But with the final Hunger Games film arriving to unexpectedly soft box office and mixed reviews, along with a similarly iffy reception for the mop-inventor biopic Joy, it’s been suggested that the glamorous starlet’s future as a major name may not be as assured as it once was - a suggestion buoyed by Lawrence herself intimating that she could continue with the X-Men franchise after having previously indicated a dissatisfaction with the series.
That doesn’t mean, however, that Lawrence is moving away from non-blockbuster fare. Now comes word that she may be taking on a new biopic role, this time for Anchorman and Talladega Nights director Adam McKay.
According to reports from Deadline and Variety, Lawrence is “circling” an untitled pitch from McKay which has been compared to his Oscar-nominated dark comedy The Big Short; which took a humorous approach to dramatizing multiple firsthand accounts of the 2008 economic crisis resulting from the implosion of the U.S. housing market. The new project would be based on the life of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos.
The Theranos story is a (still unfolding) saga of business world intrigue, centered on Holmes - who shot to international fame after Forbes named her the richest self-made woman of 2015, when the health technology company she founded made her worth an estimated $4.5 billion. The crown jewel of Theranos operation was a supposedly revolutionary blood-testing device called “Edison,” which was touted as being able to return accurate analyses using a much smaller sample than traditional blood tests. However, a series of reports called the tests’ accuracy into question and led to a federal investigation; which in turn led Forbes to adjust Holmes’ net worth to an estimate of zero.
Prior to Theranos, Holmes had been a closely-watched rising force in the world of business entrepreneurship, famously starting a business selling C++ compilers to Chinese universities while living in China in her early teens. She has claimed to have drawn her ambitious life inspiration from her grandfather, an inventor, surgeon and decorated World War I veteran, and her great-great-great-grandfather Charles Louis Fleischmann, one of the founders of the Fleischmann’s Yeast company.
The project is expected to set up a bidding war among studios once it’s been finalized. Lawrence will next be seen in the sci-fi thriller Passengers opposite Chris Pratt and is scheduled to play Amy Schumer’s sister in an untitled feature written by the comedian. McKay is expected to contribute to the script for Ant-Man & The Wasp and is producing the Will Ferrell vehicle The House, about a suburban couple who open an illegal casino in their basement.
We’ll keep you updated on the Untitled Elizabeth Holmes Biopic as more information becomes available.
Source: Variety
