Changing gears: Brie Larson to make directorial debut

Oscar-winner to direct, star in indie comedy ‘Unicorn Store’

Brie Larson is moving to the director’s chair. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Brie — who won an Oscar this year for her riveting performance in Room — is set to make her directorial debut with the quirky independent comedy Unicorn Store. The actor will also star in the movie and produce it along with David Bernad and Ruben Fleischer via their banner The District.

Based on an original screenplay by Samantha McIntyre, Unicorn Store tells the story of a woman named Kit who, after moving back in with her parents, receives a mysterious invitation to a store that will test her idea of what it really means to grow up.

The project was, at one point, to have been directed by Miguel Arteta and to have starred Rebel Wilson, but things never worked out. Bernad and Fleischer continued to develop the project and brought it to Larson before her film The Arm, which won the jury prize at the Sundance Festival in 2012.

Brie is also the newest member of the Marvel Studios family, after agreeing to star in the company’s first female-centric film project, the Captain Marvel movie. She next stars in the big-budget creature feature Kong: Skull Island, which impressed at Comic-Con last month. She has also reteamed with her Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton for the coming-of-age drama The Glass Castle. The actor also leads the cast of crime- thriller Free Fire.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2016.

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