Jordan Karlesson
Calling all moviegoers who vote yes to clever black comedies: Reese Witherspoon is running for re-election.
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Twenty-three years after she starred in the indie sleeper hit, Witherspoon will reprise her role as Tracy Flick in a sequel. Tracy Flick Can’t Win will premiere on Paramount+, Entertainment Weekly reported Thursday.
The original movie revolved around an annoying goody-two-shoes trying to lead the student body at her high school. Despite that plot description, Election was also a witty allegory about American politics.
The follow-up will reportedly catch up with Flick, who — in her 40s — appears to have fallen short of her lofty ambitions as a teen. Per the EW report, she’s working in her 40s as an assistant principal at a public high school in the New Jersey suburbs.
Election Sequel Will Bring Back Old Crew
Fans of Election will be especially delighted to learn that Alexander Payne will also return to both write and direct the sequel. Payne’s writing partner, Jim Taylor, will join him in the writing process.
No word yet on whether Matthew Broderick, who played one of the main roles as the principal in the first flick, is on board too.
Regardless, Tracy Flick Can’t Win already has even more working in its favor. Payne will base his screenplay, as he did with the first Election movie, on the writings of Tom Perrotta, according to EW.
Last year, Perrotta released a novel also called Tracy Flick Can’t Win. As EW noted, Perrotta has enjoyed very good fortune with adapted versions of his works.
Other adapted works by Perrotta include Todd Field’s Little Children, HBO’s The Leftovers. Perrotta gained an Oscar nomination for co-writing the screenplay to the latter.
Payne nabbed the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay two times. He won it in 2005 and 2014, for Sideways (starring Paul Giamatti) and The Descendants (starring George Clooney), respectively. His first nomination for that prize came courtesy of Election, but he didn’t win.
The Academy also nominated Payne for Best Director for Sideways and The Descendants, as well as the black-and-white beaut Nebraska in 2014. Furthermore, The Descendants picked up a Best Picture nod too.
Reese’s Pieces: Actress Loads Up Her Sked
As for Witherspoon, her fans might be surprised to hear the Election sequel news, given how much she already has on her plate. Last we checked in with the irrepressibly ambitious star, she was filming the third season of The Morning Show.
Meanwhile, last month, Netflix started teasing a new rom-com featuring her and Ashton Kutcher. Your Place or Mine, which she’s also co-producing, is due in theaters February 10.
Finally, Reese Witherspoon recently said she will make sure a new Legally Blonde movie lives up to its two predecessors — if and when it actually happens.
