Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo Making Disney Film on Cinderella’s Evil Stepsisters

Fresh off the critical and commercial success of their latest team-up, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Oscar-nominated actress/writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo are keeping the band together by writing a new Cinderella spin-off for Disney. The live-action film would continue Disney’s latest trend of writing films based around antagonists from its classic properties, revolving around the two “wicked,” evil or “ugly” stepsisters from the classic tale of Cinderella. Wiig and Mumulo are in the process of co-writing the film, and it hasn’t been confirmed that they’d be starring in it—but really, you have to imagine that the pair would be at least considering the possibility, which seems like it would perfectly suit their comic sensibilities.

Like other upcoming villain reclamation stories such as Cruella, starring Emma Stone, or Gaston and LeFou, starring Luke Evans and Josh Gad, this one would also set its story from the point of view of the evil stepsisters, whose names are apparently “Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine,” as they “struggle to uphold their family’s legacy.” One has to imagine that they probably feel quite a lot of insecurity in the light of their much more popular, demure and Disney-esque stepsister, Cinderella.

Wiig and Mumolo have been friends ever since their early acting days at Groundlings Theatre & School, which resulted in their Oscar-nominated screenplay for Bridesmaids, and various other collaborations that most recently included Barb & Star, in which the pair also starred. That film reportedly has overperformed home video box office expectations, showing Wiig and Mumolo’s keen eye for what viewers apparently want.

At the same time, one has to wonder how far Disney can possibly push this quest to turn minor characters from its earlier works into starring protagonists of new, live-action blockbusters. When we’re down to the “evil stepsisters” starring in their own film, who is even left? The crows from Dumbo? A Shere Khan movie, perhaps? A film from the perspective of the child-kidnapping woman in The Rescuers? Here’s hoping that Wiig and Mumolo can overcome whatever fatigue is building in audiences for these kinds of revisionist fairy tales.