Variety.com - Witherspoon to star in 'Midnight'

Variety.com - Witherspoon to star in 'Midnight'

'Sunshine' scribe Arndt to write script

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Witherspoon Arndt

Universal Pictures will develop a remake of the 1939 comedy "Midnight" as a star vehicle for Reese Witherspoon scripted by Michael Arndt, who won the Oscar for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Stuber/Parent partners Mary Parent and Scott Stuber will produce with Witherspoon and her Type A Films partner Jennifer Simpson.

Arndt hatched the idea, which prompted the producers to team.

"Midnight" has "long been one of my favorite films, and it is easily one of the best comedies of the '30s," Arndt said. "Being given the chance to update the film with Reese in the lead is simply a dream come true."

In the original, Claudette Colbert starred as a destitute young woman in Paris who becomes a pawn when a wealthy man tries to get rid of the gigolo wooing his wife. John Barrymore also starred in the film that was directed by Mitchell Leisen and written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder.

The original was released by Paramount but became U property when the studio bought the pre-1948 Par library.

Project will not be next for Witherspoon, who's deciding between several films for her next slot. She's repped by CAA and Management 360 and Arndt by Endeavor.