Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Reynolds for Big Eyes
Reese Witherspoon Reynolds and Witherspoon signed on to play Walter and Margaret Keane – a couple who became well known during the 1950s and 1960s when their paintings of big-eyed children emerged as among the first widely distributed artworks of the day – in the movie to be produced by famed writer-director Tim Burton.
Entertainment website Deadline reports that Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, famous as the team who wrote Man on the Moon and The People vs. Larry Flint, penned the script for the movie – which is due to begin shooting this coming spring – many years after initially coming up with the concept.
Karaszewski and Alexander – who worked with Burton on comedy-biography Ed Wood – released a press statement, which reads: “We are ecstatic to have this dream cast for our dream project. Walter is a larger-than-life anti-hero – charming, funny, dangerous, and a little crazy.
“Ryan will knock it out of the park. As for Reese, she will be perfect as Margaret – soulful, decent, transforming from vulnerability to learning to fight for herself.”
The husband and wife team eventually split, which led to a court case as Margaret attempted to secure her part of the credit for creating the paintings following Walter’s claims that he was the mastermind behind the popular artworks.
Both were handed easels and asked to demonstrate their skills, with Margaret proving that she had the ability to produce the paintings.
Meanwhile, Jamie Patricof and Lynette Howell will assist Burton with the production of the movie via their Electric City Entertainment company and his Tim Burton Productions.
Witherspoon, 35, can be seen alongside Tom Hardy and Chris Pine on the big screen in Britain on February 16 when comedy-romance This Means War is released, while 35-year-old Reynolds will star with Brendan Gleeson and Denzel Washington in action-crime movie Safe House come its February 24 release date.
