Paramount has decided on Craig Brewer‘s follow-up to the studio’s 2011 hit Footloose; Deadline reports that the director has signed on to helm The Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills based on the 2012 Rolling Stone article on Hollywood socialite turned drug dealer Lisette Lee.
Lee, a Hollywood socialite who claims to be the heir to the Samsung fortune (a claim that Samsung itself has denied), was arrested in 2010 at a Columbus, Ohio airport after being caught getting off a private jet with 13 suitcases filled with marijuana. After her arrest, the D.E.A. discovered that Lee had made multiple trips to Ohio with the intent to distribute 2,200 pounds of the drug in the state. She is currently serving six years in prison for the crime.
No word on the screenplay, although Deadline does infer that Brewer will also be adapting but that could also be a typo since that sentence is awkwardly written. This will be Brewer’s first feature film since Footloose but he has been keeping busy both writing (one of the many writers working on Warner Bros’ upcoming Tarzan remake) and directing (the upcoming Fox TV pilot Boomerang, starring Felicity Huffman and Anthony LaPaglia).
The original Rolling Stone article, written by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, is a fascinating read and Lee’s story is interesting enough to adapt in a movie. It’ll be interesting to see how Brewer makes Lee a sympathetic character considering her secret drug operation and penchant for lying but he can handle it. Probably. I shouldn’t assume these things. Either way I love that title and hope they keep it.
Any interest in The Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills?