Melissa McCarthy Offered Lead Opposite Bill Murray In ‘St. Vincent De Van Nuys’

Melissa McCarthy will be offered a lead role opposite star Bill Murray in the upcoming St. Vincent De Van Nuys for The Weinstein Company, Deadline reported on Monday, March 11.

The Identity Thief actress auditioned hard for the part, which will allow her to show a more serious side in a comedy-drama that has been compared to Silver Linings Playbook and As Good As It Gets, the Deadline report stated.

St. Vincent De Van Nuys will star Bill Murray as an aging World War II veteran with some pretty terrible habits, who befriends the 12-year-old son of a single mother, Melissa McCarthy, who busies herself working double-shifts at a hospital to make ends meet.

Murray’s character has been described as a “cantankerous train wreck of a neighbor” by Deadline, and writer-director Ted Melfi told the website that McCarthy’s decision to trust Murray with her son is “the worst parenting decision ever made by this single mom.”

Nevertheless, the film will strike a redemptive tone, Melfi said.

“The relationship transforms both the man and the boy and even though he teaches the kid everything about his decadent lifestyle … the 12-year-old has such a pure soul that he only extracts the good from all this,” he added.

Murray phoned Melfi personally, telling the writer-director that he didn’t know who Melfi was, but “‘I love your script,” Melfi said. “He said, ‘This character is who I am at times, and this is how I talk, at times.’ It was one of those days where you think, ‘If I died tomorrow, it would be okay,'” Melfi said.

Once McCarthy is offered the role, it will be a welcome bit of news to go with the success of Identity Thief, and should also help detract from a scathing review movie critic Rex Reed recently gave to the film that turned quite personal.

Reed referred to McCarthy as a “hippo” and “tractor-sized,” adding that McCarthy “is basing her career on being obnoxious and being overweight. And I don’t think that’s funny.”

McCarthy responded by calling Reed’s remarks “wrong and hurtful,” and stating that “it doesn’t do anyone any good — not even Rex Reed, you know?”

The film, Collider added, will begin shooting in July 2013, just in time for Bill Murray to finish shootingThe Monuments Men alongside George Clooney.

What do you think about Melissa McCarthy in a serious role? Are you looking forward to St. Vincent De Van Nuys?