'Red Queen' Book to Film: Elizabeth Banks to Direct Young Adult Fantasy

Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks |

Actress and director Elizabeth Banks is just reeling for the success of her directorial work in "Pitch Perfect 2," and now, it seems like Banks is eager to keep the ball rolling because she is in talks to direct the young adult fantasy adaptation called "Red Queen" for Universal.

The young adult novel "Red Queen" is written by Victoria Aveyard and was published just this February as part of a three-book deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It is set in a fictional world where people are divided based on the color of their blood - ordinary people have regular red blood, while the elite have silver blood and supernatural abilities.

The story's lead character is Mare, a 17-year-old girl who makes ends meet by stealing things in their rural village. Everything changes for her when a chance encounter leads her to save the life of one of the elites from the royal court.

Because of this, she was presented to the king and queen - and then starts manifesting powers she never knew she had! To keep things at bay, the king decides to invent a backstory for her, and has her prepared to marry one of his sons.

Mare isn't exactly thrilled about becoming part of the silver community, especially since she has been planning a rebellion against them with the red community.

The script has already been written by "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" writer Gennifer Hutchison. Banks would make a pretty good director for "Red Queen" given her experience as an actress for the "Hunger Games" franchise, which is another young adult trilogy that deals with rebellion and showcases the stark differences among those who are in power and those who are not.

On the other hand, Banks is not letting go of her acting career for the meantime, since she has been pretty busy working on movies such as "Magic Mike XXL" which is due for release on July 3. She will also be returning to Netflix on "Wet Hot American Summer," which is the prequel series of "First Day of Camp." Banks will also be seen next on "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" which will be out this November 20, 2015.

The said movie will be the last one in the "Hunger Games" franchise and will finally show whether or not Katniss Everdeen, Peeta, Gale, and the rest of her supporters will be successful in bringing down the Capitol.