Since we already have Heathers the television show coming soon, what would be better than a Heathers remake? Try this on for size Heathers meets Fight Club , starring Natalie Portman. It isn’t completely locked yet, but it looks like the genre twisting film Dare Me may score Portman in its coveted role.
The film is an adaptation of the Megan Abbott novel, which is officially described as Heathers meets Fight Club , with teenage cheerleaders. Now where does Natalie Portman come into this? She’s too mature to pass for a high school cheerleader these days.
From our guess Portman will play the young new coach that disables the power trip of two queen bee cheerleaders. So where’s the catch? A suicide in the high school grabs the police’s attention, and a full blown investigation on the coach and her squad takes place.
The official abridged synopsis of Dare Me goes on to explain the novel:
“Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy’s best friend and trusted lieutenant. Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers, until the young new coach arrives. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach’s golden circle. A suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death—and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain.”
Sounds like this could be a much welcomed teen adult film. In recent years, Portman has taken a step back to focus her attention on motherhood, but, since then, she has set up a bunch of interesting roles. In the upcoming film Jane Got A Gun , Portman plays an ex-lover out to save her outlaw husband from a gang. She also steps into Terrence Malick’s world pretty soon in Knight of Cups which has been described as “a man, temptations, celebrity, and excess.”
Aside from Portman’s dark turn in Black Swan , we haven’t seen such a gutsy line of roles on her resume since 2004’s Closer . For Dare Me , Michael Sucsy of The Vow and Grey Gardens is set to direct the adaptation. Lets hope it’s more Grey Gardens than it is The Vow .
Do you think Natalie Portman fits the role of the cheerleader coach?