The Tank Girl movie reboot has reportedly found its director in Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, with Margot Robbie producing and potentially starring. In the years since her breakout performance in The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie has quickly ascended to the rank of a Hollywood A-lister. She now has an acting Oscar nomination under belt from playing Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, and will reprise her fan-favorite Suicide Squad character, Harley Quinn, in 2020's Birds of Prey movie. Robbie is also expected to reprise her role as Harley for a third time in James Gunn's upcoming DC film, The Suicide Squad.
Created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, Tank Girl is a comic book antihero with a distinctly punk-rock style (including, dyed hair and partly-shaven head) and demeanor who lives in a tank, and makes a living working one-off jobs in a post-apocalyptic world. Martin surprised the character's fans this week when he claimed Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment banner is developing a Tank Girl film reboot. It appears that is, in fact, the case, with the intention being for Robbie to star in it.
According to Collider, Robbie won't commit to headlining the Tank Girl reboot until its script is finished. Story-wise, the film will reportedly follow Tank Girl as she teams up with fellow antihero Jet Girl and a team of rebels to fight back against a tyrannical government intent on trying to control what little water is available in the future. Whether Robbie decides to star or not, she will produce the new Tank Girl movie with her LuckyChap partners Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara.
Joris-Peyrafitte's previous credits include his feature debut on 2016's drama-mystery As You Are and the dramatic thriller Dreamland, which Robbie starred in as a fugitive bank robber. Dreamland premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and earned mixed to positive reviews, but has yet to be picked up for a U.S. theatrical release. The period piece was praised for its visually striking recreation of Dust Bowl-era America - something that suggests Joris-Peyrafitte will thrive at bringing the Tank Girl comics' Mad Max-ian hellscape to life in live-action. Clearly, Robbie was happy enough with their previous collaboration to want to bring Joris-Peyrafitte back for another LuckyChap project (one with franchise potential, at that).
Tank Girl previously made the leap to the big screen in 1995, with Lori Petty starring and Rachel Talalay directing. The film was a critical and commercial disappointment that, according to Talalay, was the victim of studio edits against her wishes. However, it's since amassed a cult fan base, and is now recognized for its significance as one of the first woman-directed comic book films with significant feminist overtones. It's also a movie where, like the comic books, there are mutant, talking kangaroos running around (Tank Girl even dates one in the comics). That's to say, it will be interesting to see what the weird and wild world of Tank Girl looks like when brought to life as a modern genre movie.
Source: Collider