After earning an Oscar nomination for her role in the Coen Brothers’ Western True Grit, then training to battle aliens in last November’s Ender’s Game, Hailee Steinfeld appears to be taking a page out of fellow teen star Chloë Grace Moretz’s book for her next leading role. In the action comedy Barely Lethal, she’ll play a teenaged assassin named Megan (à la Moretz’s Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass), who attempts to live a normal life and attend high school after faking her own death to escape from the boarding school that trained her.
Two images from Barely Lethal have hit the web today, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, and you can check them both out at the bottom of this article.
It’s a little unclear who Steinfeld is shielding in the first image, but that’s clearly Samuel L. Jackson giving her a stern talking-to in the second still. Jackson plays Hardman, Megan’s intense and no-nonsense mentor at the assassin academy. Barely Lethal also stars Jessica Alba as Victoria, Megan’s former handler who goes on the offensive after learning that she is still alive. Game of Thrones‘ Sophie Turner co-stars as Heather, another teenaged assassin who is recruited by Victoria to go undercover at Megan’s school and forcibly brings her back into the fold.
Early buzz suggests that the film will play like a snarky, action-packed cross between Kick-Ass and Hanna, with shades of Mean Girls and Clueless, which sounds like a very interesting and appealing combination as far as I’m concerned. Barely Lethal is directed by Kyle Newman (Fanboys) and boasts a script by newcomer John D’Arco, so whether it will have the verbal and directorial smarts to back up its promising concept remains to be seen. However, Steinfeld is an undoubtedly capable star, so I’m optimistic about the possibility that Barely Lethal could bring something new to the teen assassin subgenre.
Will you be lining up to check out Barely Lethal, or has the ‘teen assassin’ concept lost its appeal after too many outings? Sound off in the comments section!
Barely Lethal does not yet have a release date, though Main Street Films is set to send the film to theaters at some point in 2014.
