New Line has purchased an untitled project based on a book proposal about Boston’s first female cops in the ’70s with Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone on board to produce.
Sources also tell Variety that the project is being developed for McCarthy to star as one of the cops. McCarthy and Falcone will produce through their On the Day production company.
Alexandra Lydon (who will also exec produce) penned the book which sold preemptively to Picador USA and tells the true story of the first female police officers in Boston. The book follows the transition of black and white women joining the Boston Police Department, as they find themselves on the front lines of a racially divided city and became unwitting participants in a social revolution.
The project would give McCarthy another opportunity to show off her dramatic chops, which she also displayed in the dramedy “St. Vincent” where she starred opposite Bill Murray. McCarthy had aggressively pursued that role, showing that she wanted to make the transition beyond comedy roles.
McCarthy will soon be seen in Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me” for Fox Searchlight, which was written by Nicole Holofcener, and is attached to produce and star in “Margie Claus” at New Line.
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She was most recently in the Sony reboot of “Ghostbusters” opposite Kristen Wiig. McCarthy and Falcone are repped by MGMT and CAA. Deadline Hollywood first reported the pic.