Blake Lively Teaming With Anna Kendrick For Unexpected Sequel
Gossip Girl star Blake Lively is teaming back up with Anna Kendrick for a movie sequel, but it is surprising which one (not Green Lantern).
After its resounding critical and box office success, Lionsgate and Amazon Studios are working on a sequel to A Simple Favor. The project brings back stars of the original film, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, who will reprise their roles. Paul Feig is returning as director and will also produce alongside Laura Fischer. Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien are overseeing the project for the studio. The talented Jessica Sharzer is writing the screenplay, Deadline reports.
Based on Darcey Bell’s 2017 novel of the same name, A Simple Favor told the story of a single mother named Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick). Living a quiet life as a successful video blogger, she eventually forms an unlikely friendship with the glamorous Emily Nelson (Blake Lively), an effortlessly cool mom who she silently envies. In Stephanie’s eyes, Emily has it all – a successful career, a loving family, and a fancy lifestyle.
But things take an ugly turn when Emily mysteriously disappears. As a good friend, Stephanie decides to launch her own investigation. However, she makes some startling discoveries while digging into her friend’s past. The film earned more than $97 million at the global box office and still holds an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s critical consensus describes the movie as twisty, twisted, and above all simply fun. Since the ending left the door open for a potential sequel, fans will be excited to see what Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick get up to when A Simple Favor 2 arrives on the big screen.
Speaking about the sequel, Anna Kendrick told Entertainment Weekly that she can’t wait to revisit the hilarious, deeply dark inner world of Stephanie Smothers and reunite the characters under the watchful and stylish eye of the brilliant Paul Feig. The director mirrored her excitement, saying A Simple Favor is a favorite among all the projects he’s ever worked on. He said its success was due to Jessica Sharzer’s amazing writing and the stunning, hilarious cast headed by his brilliant heroes Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively.
Meanwhile, Blake Lively is set to make her feature directorial debut with Seconds for Searchlight. The first time she took on directorial duties was in 2021, with the music video for Taylor Swift’s I Bet You Think About Me. The Gossip Girl alum received positive feedback from critics and was even nominated for an Academy of Country Music Award. Seconds for Searchlight is an adaptation of the graphic novel by Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley.
Although her career has been pretty quiet in recent years, Blake Lively appeared in the 2020 action-thriller, The Rhythm Section. The movie is based on the Mark Burnell novel of the same name and is directed by Reed Morano. The story follows a grieving woman who, after discovering the plane crash that killed her family was a terrorist attack, seeks revenge. Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown also star. The movie was released by Paramount Pictures and received mixed reviews from critics. However, Lively’s performance was praised by everyone.
