Melissa McCarthy, 'The Heat' Star, Turned Down Role to Work With Jon Hamm in 'Dumb Jock'
Melissa McCarthy turned down a role in a comedic film written for her to star in alongside Jon Hamm, The Heat Executive Producer Paul Feig recently revealed.
Dumb Jock was first announced in June 2011, one month after the opening of Feig's Bridesmaids. He wrote the script and intended for the comedic actress to star in it beside the Mad Men star.
"I'm very excited about that project," Feig said in an interview with Movieline in August 2011. "I'm writing with them in mind, and it's just a love story that I've always wanted to write, that I think will be really funny, but will play much more real than most quote-unquote romantic comedies. Fingers crossed, I get them to do it."
However, despite the fact that they have worked together on two films, McCarthy turned down the role in Feig's script. The same goes for Hamm.
"Yeah, I wrote it, and the studio loved it, but Jon and Melissa didn't want to do it," Feig said in an interview with Grantland last week. "It's one of my favorite things I've ever written. Maybe we'll relaunch it. I love funny Hamm."
Dumb Jock may not make it to a theater screen for a while. The 62-year-old director is reportedly in works with Paramount for The Heat 2 and he has a film titled Wish List in pre-production. He is also working on a female spy movie for 20th Century Fox titled Susan Cooper, TheWrap reported in June. The film will be a comedy about a female version of a James Bond.
Feig wrote the script for Susan Cooper and will produce the movie through his Feigco Entertainment company. Feigco's Executive Vice President Jessie Henderson and Fox executive Daria Cercek will be involved in production, with the latter overseeing the project on behalf of the studio.
