Emma Thompson in negotiations to pen Annie remake

willow smith

Emma Thompson is currently in talks to take on scripting duties on the remake of musical Annie .

While Glee creator Ryan Murphy was originally approached with the project, he’s too busy setting up the show’s third season to get involved with the film.

Being developed by Will Smith as a starring vehicle for his daughter Willow (above), Annie is based on the comic strip and stage musical that followed a plucky orphan who’s taken in by an image-conscious politician.

The 1982 film version starred the likes of Albert Finney and Tim Curry, and was set during the Great Depression. It’s unknown if Smith’s version will modernise the setting.

Thompson’s involvement definitely makes sense considering she and Smith have just worked together on Men In Black III . Thompson's also uniquely qualified for such a project thanks to her championing of the Nanny McPhee movies.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.