Anne Hathaway And Salma Hayek Will Star As Frenemies
Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek will star in an adaptation of Kōtarō Isaka's novel Seesaw Monster.
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Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek are set to co-star in an upcoming film adaptation of Seesaw Monster, a novel by Bullet Train/Maria Beetle author Kōtarō Isaka. According to Variety, the two will play a pair of rivals who find themselves teaming up against their better judgments, which is always a pretty solid conceit for a plot. As it is, this will be the first pairing of the two in a film, both of whom have been nominated for or won Academy Awards and are known for their work in action films and comedies.
Per Variety, Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek will be starring in the film, which will be scripted by Olivia Milch. Olivia Milch is best known for co-writing the Sandra Bullock reboot/sidequel film Ocean’s Eight and for writing the upcoming Greg Rucka adaptation Queen & Country, which has been announced to be directed by Ridley Scott. Ocean’s Eight also starred Anne Hathaway (along with Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, and James Corden), so there is likely a connection there that got Olivia Milch on board.
There is no announced director for the film yet, which makes the general tone of the film to be up in the air. Between the two of them, Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek have worked in pretty much every genre imaginable, from bizarre virtual reality drama with Matthew McConaughey to apocalyptic religious satire to musical in which Russell Crowe was allowed to sing, so it really could be just about anything. At the very least, this movie is getting two very versatile actresses.
While Kōtarō Isaka’s work might not be very well known in the English-speaking world, he is a massively popular and award-winning mystery novelist in Japan. His novel Maria Beetle was recently adapted as Bullet Train, which starred Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, and Sandra Bullock. The lattermost of that cast is likely another connection here, which really just goes to show how the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game really is alive and well in Hollywood.
Bullet Train was a solid box office success, grossing nearly $240 million globally and receiving generally positive (though slightly mixed reviews), so naturally, production companies are looking into adapting more of Kōtarō Isaka’s novels. It is likely that an adaptation of Seesaw Monster (which very well may be retitled in the same way as Bullet Train) will have the same kind of cinematically violent, somewhat goofy tone. Fortunately, both Anne Hathaway and Salma Hayek have quite a bit of experience in the action genre, so they will most likely be up for it.
Anne Hathaway is currently starring in the James Gray film Armageddon Time, in which she plays a fictionalized version of the filmmaker’s mother, while Salma Hayek is set to star in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance, in which she will have plenty of opportunity to ogle Channing Tatum’s body. The adaption of Seesaw Monster is being produced by Netflix, so it will likely have both a theatrical and streaming release at some point in the future. We will update with more details as they are announced.
