Jennifer Lawrence to star in Real Housewives-inspired murder mystery

The Oscar winner, who is a longtime fan of the franchise, is also producing the film

Jennifer Lawrence is set to star in and produce a whodunit titled The Wives, featuring a Real Housewives-inspired murder mystery.

While most details are under wraps, it is known that Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize finalist play Circle Jerk, will be writing the script. The film is being described as influenced heavily by the Real Housewives franchise, which follows the lives and drama surrounding a group of wealthy women in a particular city.

The film, which Lawrence will be producing alongside Justine Ciarrocchi for her company Excellent Cadaver, and Jeremy O Harris and Josh Godfrey, has been acquired by Apple Original Films in what is being described as a “highly competitive situation”, reported Variety. The Wives is being co-produced by Apple Studios and A24, which previously also worked on the 2022 drama Causeway, also starring Lawrence.

The Silver Linings Playbook star has previously talked about her love for and knowledge of the Real Housewives franchise on several occasions, telling E! News at the 2024 Golden Globes that she would give the cast of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City her Oscar for making the “best reality TV finale, I think, ever”.

“I’ll give ‘em mine! I don’t care,” Lawrence said. “They deserve it!”

“I was jaw on the floor, I didn’t even text – I didn’t even look at my phone!”

In 2014, she told Vanity Fair that she loves “my Real Housewives”, while talking about her favourite reality television shows.

“I love Intervention, New York Housewives – and Beverly Hills, New Jersey, and Atlanta Housewives. I mean, I love them all, but Miami – oh, my God! Miami is really special.”

The Oscar winner also declared in 2022 that Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Erika Jayne is “evil”.

“I would go as far as to say, um, she needs a publicis. Like, ASAP,” she added.

Lawrence was last seen in Sony’s 2023 sex comedy No Hard Feelings and has previously produced the documentary Bread & Roses, which followed the lives of Afghanistan’s women under the Taliban after they retook control in 2021.

She is also set to star in an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel Die, My Love, centred on a woman who deals with extreme mental health problems after giving birth in a secluded French village.