Elizabeth Banks and Margot Robbie are set to team up for an adaptation of Robert Munsch‘s book, The Paper Bag Princess, albeit in different roles. Universal Pictures came out on top in a bidding war for the rights to adapt the book, and have pegged Banks to direct the film with Robbie set to star, though she’ll only officially sign on once the script and scheduling details have been worked out.
Katie Silberman (Set It Up) is attached to pen the script, with Banks and Robbie both also producing.
The book deals with Princess Elizabeth, who plans on marrying the perfect Prince Ronald. However, when a dragon destroys her castle, kidnaps Ronald and burns all her clothes, she must throw on a paper bag and set off to rescue him.
The book was first published in 1980, and garnered acclaim for reversing the princess and dragon stereotype and gained an endorsement from the National Organisation for Women.
It’s an interesting book to peg for a film adaptation, as it’s merely 32 pages long, so Silberman might have her work cut out expanding it into a full screenplay without plenty of new material. Perhaps that is the main reason Robbie has not yet signed on the dotted line, as she might be waiting to confirm that the short children’s book can be adequately fleshed out.
Until then, Banks is set to direct a reboot of Charlie’s Angels, with Kristen Stewart and Lupita Nyong’o in talks to star, while Robbie can next be seen in her Tonya Harding biopic, I, Tonya, which is set to arrive in cinemas on Friday, December 8.
#Peace.Love.PaperBagPrincess
