Woody Harrelson has signed on to star in Fruit Loops, a drama that’s said to be in the vein of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, from Hidden Figures director Theodore Melfi. The script reportedly follows a group of misfit mental patients who band together when their group is threatened by the sudden sale of the hospital.
Harrelson will play Colonel Leonard F. Cubby, a life-long resident of Sunnyside who suffers from chronic PTSD as a result of endless tours of Vietnam. Alongside him is a young heroin addict who is also the son of a wealthy politician, a female hippie with multiple personalities, a mildly autistic and bipolar giant in the vein of Chief, and a paranoid schizophrenic with religious delusions she records on a blog.
Fox 2000 is behind the project, who picked it up for seven figures when Hidden Figures was about to hit cinemas. The film went on to earn three Oscar nominations and a very healthy $325 million worldwide, making that deal a very smart one by Elizabeth Gabler.
Fruit Loops is expected to be Melfi’s next movie despite the fact that he also signed on to direct the time-travel sci-fi film Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers. That is based on the award-winning short story by Lawrence Watt-Evans, and follows a down-on-his-luck high school student who discovers that the roadside diner he works at is actually an intergalactic hangout for time-travellers.
Melfi signed on to that film earlier this week, so he’s suddenly become a very popular figure that has two very different projects on his plate, so we’ll wait to hear if one is pushed back or if he decides to vacate the director’s chair of another.
As for Harrelson, he’s just come off big roles in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while he’s also in line to play the main antagonist in the Venom sequel. Thus, it’s good to see him taking on a role in a smaller film to balance out that blockbuster work. He’s also on board to star in the Zombieland sequel and Netflix‘s The Highwaymen alongside Kevin Costner.
#Peace.Love.FruitLoops
