Melissa McCarthy will star in Netflix’s adaptation of Miss Nelson is Missing.
Melissa McCarthy will star in Miss Nelson is Missing.
The Can You Ever Forgive Me? star will lead the cast of Netflix’s adaptation of Harry Allard’s classic children’s book, with Deadline reporting she will play both the titular teacher and her strict substitute.
The story – which will be adapted for the big screen by Spies in Disguise writer Brad Copeland – centres around a misbehaving class whose teacher is mysteriously absent from school one day, and after a week with her replacement, Viola Swamp, the children can’t wait for Miss Nelson to come back to them.
The streaming service acquired the feature film following a bidding war and have previously worked with Melissa on Superintelligence and Thunder Force.
The 55-year-old actress and her husband Ben Falcone will produce via their On the Day Productions company, as will Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine, Lawrence Grey for Grey Matter, and Caroline Fraser for HarperCollins.
Melissa has undergone a dramatic weight loss transformation in the last few years and hit the headlines last year when her friend Barbra Streisand publicly quizzed her on if she had used medication to shed the pounds.
The A Star is Born star had raised eyebrows when she made her comment on a post shared by the Bridesmaids actress which featured her and choreographer Adam Shankman outside the Centre Theatre Group Gala in Los Angeles.
Barbra commented: “Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?”
Following a backlash, the You Don’t Bring Me Flowers singer later admitted she had “forgot the world is reading” when she made her comment.
She said on Instagram Stories about her since-deleted post: “I went on Instagram to see the photos we’d posted of the beautiful flowers I’d received for my birthday! Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my ‘Encore’ album.
“She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading!”
Melissa later addressed Barbra’s comments and insisted she wasn’t upset.
Sharing a short video on Instagram in which she was reading a magazine with a vintage photo of Barbra on the cover, Melissa said: “The takeaway – Barbra Streisand knows I exist, she reached out to me, and she thought I looked good.
“I win the day.”
She captioned the post: “@Barbrastreisand fan club members only!!!”
Melissa McCarthy lands Miss Nelson is Missing roles
