Dan Trachtenberg Serving Up ‘MILK’ (‘Mother I’d Like to Kill’) at Lionsgate

Dan Trachtenberg to Direct Mother I'd Like to Kill

Dan Trachtenberg made his feature directorial debut with the outstanding 10 Cloverfield Lane, but somehow, no studio has picked him up for another feature yet. Sony Pictures tried by bringing him in to direct their long-gestating adaptation of the video game Uncharted, but that fell through. Thankfully, it sounds like Lionsgate is smart enough to give him another crack at the big screen.

In a report about Disney producer and development executive Kristin Burr heading to Lionsgate with a new multi-year overall deal, it was revealed that one of the first projects she’s bringing to the studio is MILK (aka Mother I’d Like to Kill), an action comedy that puts a motherly spin on Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news on Mother I’d Like to Kill heading to Lionsgate. Dan Trachtenberg will direct the movie and also came up with the idea himself. But writing the screenplay will be Patrick Aison (Wayward Pines, Jack Ryan). So what’s the movie about?

The logline describes MILK as being about a former assassin that must manage the pressures of being a new mom while avoiding her former co-workers who have been sent to kill her. It’s easy to picture this as a goofier comedy at first, but in the hands of Dan Trachtenberg, this could be more of a dark comedy with some strong action.

As for Burr, she has a long history of success with a variety of films like The Prestige, The Muppets, Sweet Home Alabama, Mary Poppins Returns, and much more. She was an executive at Disney for 20 years, and she’s wrapping up there by producing the 101 Dalmatians spin-off Cruella. At the same time, she’s also working on the Netflix musical Jingle Jangle featuring Forest Whitaker and the music of John Legend. She can obviously juggle a lot of projects, and she knows where to find good stuff, so we’re very much excited to see how MILK turns out.

It’s a shame the studio system is so reluctant to take risks on original ideas most of the time. I have a feeling that Dan Trachtenberg would be one of the most prominent filmmakers working today if they weren’t so reliant on established intellectual property. The filmmaker seems to thrive with original ideas, which is exactly what 10 Cloverfield Lane was before Bad Robot decided it should be part of the Cloverfield franchise. So hopefully MILK finds success and Trachtenberg can start making movies more often.

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