Kristen Bell has reportedly signed on to play a “bad mom” alongside Christina Applegate and Mila Kunis in an upcoming comedy, and one of those roles was reportedly reserved for Judd Apatow’s wife, actress Leslie Mann, until the power couple dropped out of the film.
Apatow was originally on board to produce and Mann was set to star, but they announced they were leaving the project earlier this year due to a “timing conflict”.
“We’re grateful for everything that [Apatow] contributed and where he got us,” Mercer Media’s Bill Block said.
The film is still moving along according to Block, who also noted that the location–originally New York City–could change. The Hangover writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are reportedly on board to pen the script.
“Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are masters at creating relatable characters that audiences instantly embrace, and then putting them in hilarious real-life situations for great comedic results. This film provides the rare opportunity for a half-dozen strong female lead roles, and we are thrilled to have assembled an exceptional cast led by Mila Kunis, Christina Applegate, Kristen Bell. We can’t wait to start production and be part of the magic this team will bring to the screen,” STX president and CCO Oren Aviv said in a statement.
The movie is being described as “The Hangover with moms”, and while Kristen Bell is most recently known for playing a perfectly sweet and innocent Disney princess, she’s not without a raunchy sense of humor, as she displayed in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall (in which she also acted alongside Mila Kunis).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “The story centers on an overachieving mother with a seemingly perfect life whose stress lines are one bad day from cracking. Fed up, she joins two other overstressed mothers, leading them on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities, which includes going on a wild un-mom-like binge of freedom, fun and self-indulgence. The course of action lands them on a collision course with the PTA Queen Bee and her blindly devoted clique of ‘perfect’ moms.”