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Isla Fisher Joins the Cast of 'Jackie Brown' Quasi-Prequel 'The Switch'

by Ben Pearson
November 15, 2012
Source: Variety

Writer/director Dan Schechter took a chance when he wrote a screenplay based on Elmore Leonard's crime novel The Switch. He wrote it on spec, without permission from the author, but luckily for him Leonard (and eventually film producer Michael Siegel) loved what he did with it. Quentin Tarantino also gave the project his blessing because this movie is a prequel of sorts to his film Jackie Brown, using characters Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara (once played by Sam Jackson and Robert De Niro) but now played by Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and John Hawkes. Now Variety says Isla Fisher is attached. Read on!

The story, set fifteen years before the events of Jackie Brown, follows Robbie and Gara as they join forces after meeting in prison and decide to ransom a rich developer's wife. The trouble is, the developer doesn't even want his wife back, so the wife teams with the criminals to get her own kind of revenge. If her deal goes through, Fisher will play Melanie, the same character Bridget Fonda played in Jackie Brown. When the ransom deal goes south, the loyalty-free Melanie sees an opportunity for herself and begins to manipulate.

Jennifer Aniston signed on earlier this year to play the kidnapped wife, and Dennis Quaid was in talks to play her sleazy husband but had to drop out because he's now starring in the CBS show "Vegas." Ty Burrell from "Modern Family" will play a witness to the kidnapping, so they already have a strong cast. After a string of questionable performances (minus Wanderlust), I'm hoping this material will be a good fit for Aniston, and we already know that Fisher can play a mentally unstable person from her hilarious work in Wedding Crashers, so she should work out perfectly with Melanie's unhinged persona. No start date has been announced yet, so stay tuned for more.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

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