With Alexander Payne‘s latest “The Holdovers” making the festival rounds before it hits theaters in October, fans of the director wonder what he’ll start work on next. Will it be the long-gestating sequel to his 1999 film “Election,” titled “Tracy Flick Can’t Win“? Payne’s short answer about that project: don’t hold your breath.
World Of Reel (via a Collider interview) provides a status report on the Payne project. And while “Tracy Flick Can’t Win” is still in development, the director has other things in mind before he returns to the world of the 1999 dark comedy. “Tom Perotta, who wrote the book “Election,” has written a very fine sequel, and Reese Witherspoon and I have talked about it,” Payne told Collider. “And Jim Taylor and I, my co-writer, have talked about doing it. But we just haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s only because everything takes a while, and I have a couple things to do before that. We’ll just see how it falls. It would be lovely to do.”
Payne’s “Election” sequel was first announced late last year, with Witherspoon on board to reprise her role as toxic go-getter Tracy Flick. Payne will co-pen the sequel with Taylor, with the project debuting on Paramount+. “Tracy Flick Can’t Win” follows Witherspoon’s tenacious character as an adult, still clawing her way to the top by any means necessary. Witherspoon also produces the project with Lauren Neustadter through Hello Sunshine, a Candle Media company. Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa also co-produce through Bona Fide Productions, with Perrotta as executive producer.
Many consider Tracy Flick to be Witherspoon’s best career role next to Elle Woods in the “Legally Blonde” movies. But it could be a while before Flick returns, if Payne has “a couple things” between seeing the “The Holdovers” release through and making “Tracy Flick Can’t Win.” Payne’s latest stars Paul Giamatti as a curmudgeonly teacher at a boarding school in the 1970s tasked with supervising students not going home for the holidays. It’s fared exceptionally well with critics so far on the festival circuit (read The Playlist’s review of the film out of Telluride here). The film hits select theaters on October 20.
So hang tight, “Election” fans: Payne’s sequel is in the pipeline, but it may be coming much later than previously expected.
