Twilight and Miss You Already director Catherine Hardwicke is currently in talks to take the helm on the Sony Pictures remake of the Mexican film, Miss Bala. The 2011 crime drama centred around a Beauty Pageant contestant who accidentally becomes embroiled with a vicious gang after witnessing a number of brutal murders.
Related: Catherine Hardwicke interview on Miss You Already
It has also been reported that Sony have also singled out Jane the Virgin star, Gina Rodriquez, as the frontrunner as the lead protagonist in a race against time to keep Hardwicke firmly attached to the venture. The director is also currently being linked to TriStar production The Phantom Booth meaning Sony are under pressure to secure the services of a star for Miss Bala to stop Hardwicke going elsewhere.
Back in 2011, the year in which the original was released, Miss Bala premiered at Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was also the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Film at the 84th Academy Awards but sadly did not make it onto the shortlist which saw Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation take the accolade.
Receiving critical acclaim, the story of Miss Bala is actually loosely based on a real event in which 2012’s Miss Sinaloa, Laura Zuniga was arrested along with suspected gang members in a truck filled with munitions outside of Guadalajara, Jalisco. In an interview with Complex Magazine, director Gerardo Naranjo said that he had met Zuniga, but that “I really didn’t want to go into their psyches. I guess the film has a very strong point-of-view, and we refuse to get into the minds of these guys, because I think that’s what every other movie does… I wanted to live the experience from the point-of-view of an innocent person
Kevin Misher and Pablo Cruz are producing, Andy Berman is executive producer. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer is adapting the script by original director Gerard Naranjo and Mauricio Katz.
