Yahoo News First look at Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu in Christmas movie remake
Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu can now be seen for the first time in pictures for their upcoming Christmas movie, Bernard and the Genie, which is a remake of a Richard Curtis TV film of the same name.
The original 1991 TV movie, which Curtis wrote, starred Lenny Henry, Rowan Atkinson and Alan Cumming.
This time, The Little Mermaid star McCarthy will star as the genie, while Essiedu will star as a workaholic man who enlists the help of the genie to win his family back before Christmas.
Related: Love Actually’s Richard Curtis admits big error that makes him "feel uncomfortable"
In the pictures, McCarthy is sporting bright orange locks while wearing an eccentric blue outfit consisting of harem pants and a shirt. In another picture, McCarthy looks rather more glam as her and Essiedu haul shopping bags down the street.
Curtis will again write the script while Sam Boyd, who created the HBO Max series Love Life starring Anna Kendrick, will direct.
This will be Curtis' first movie project since 2019's Yesterday, although he is best known for romcoms Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually.
Related: Love Actually director reveals Juliet secret hidden in the set
Last year, Curtis admitted that the lack of diversity in Love Actually does now make him feel uncomfortable.
Speaking with US TV channel ABC for a one-hour special, The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later, Curtis said: "There are things that you would change, but thank God society is changing. My film is bound in some moments to feel out of date. The lack of diversity makes me feel uncomfortable and a bit stupid.
"There is such extraordinary love that goes on every minute in so many ways all around the world. [It] makes me wish my film was better; it makes me wish [that] I'd made a documentary just to kind of observe it."
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