Kate McKinnon Eyes A Musical Comedy From Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis

The Saturday Night Live actor might be strapping on her tap shoes for the Trainspotting director.

More details are starting to emerge regarding Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis’ untitled musical comedy. Earlier this month we reported on this unique collaboration and speculated on what variation on the genre we could expect from the British creators. While specific plot details are still under wraps, we now have a better idea of the era they’ll be exploring as well as the characters that might populate it.

Having just attempted her own Girls Trip with Rough Night, Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon will next be seen in The Spy Who Dumped Me. Where she goes from there is still in flux, but The Hollywood Reporter suggests that the actress is eying a key role in the Boyle/Curtis production. McKinnon would be joining Lily James in a 1960s or 70s set musical. James is apparently playing a school teacher while McKinnon would take on the role of a talent agent.

Are we thinking that Boyle and Curtis might have their take on A Star Is Born? That would be interesting especially since the Clint Eastwood remake with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper is releasing right around the corner. The mod setting for Boyle will surely separate his aesthetic from anything Eastwood might attempt, and with Curtis behind the screenplay, I imagine their show will be more gala and glam.

We’re about to hit another glut of musicals. On top of A Star Is Born, we have a second Mama Mia coming our way, the live-action Lion King and Aladdin, Tom Hooper’s threatening Cats, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is behind Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of In The Heights. Every few years the genre flares up, and a few killer classics present themselves. Which one of these is Moulin Rouge, and which one is Rock of Ages?

The 60s/70s setting is an immediate draw. Although, that in itself carries with it a rather disparate spectrum of quality and tone. Lean into the early 60s and we have West Side Story. Push up against the borders of the 1980s and we have Hair. LaLa Land borrowed heavily from The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) to mostly charming effect. That fashion falls in line with the director who crafted A Life Less Ordinary and Millions.

Kate McKinnon should be a good fit for that world. At the very least, Rough Night and Ghostbusters showed an actor capable of falling into place with a diverse cast of weirdos. She stands out when needed, and with a limited amount of screen time, she draws an audience’s full attention. Can she sing? Can she dance? It’s Hollywood, everyone can.

With casting fully underway, this musical comedy seems to be taking the lead over Danny Boyle’s possibility of helming the next James Bond film. He has confirmed that he is developing the 007 script, but the green light has yet to be flipped. Universal Studios is looking to get this film shooting by the summer. Shaken martinis will have to wait.

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