Kristen Wiig has long since established herself as one of the main reasons anyone watches the current incarnation of Saturday Night Live. She’s also been slowly making her way into the movies, both as a performer and, more recently, a writer. Now she’s taken things a step further, using her own wages to option Monica Drake’s dark comic novel Clown Girl.
The 2007 tome follows the misadventures of Nita, a lady clown whose life just isn’t living up to the dream. She’s eking out a living working street fairs, and spends her time pining after her dream man, who used her to help pay for his own education at clown college. And since he’s having money troubles, she’s tempted to sink into the murky world of prostitution, catering to clown fetishists.
Wiig’s plan is to write the script and play Nita on screen, and it sounds like just the sort of warped tale she could make into something weirdly brilliant.
She’ll be on screen a lot in the next couple of years, between appearing in MacGruber, writing/starring in her untitled wedding comedy set to release next year, and a role in Simon Pegg/Nick Frost alien comedy Paul. Frankly, all this can only be a good thing.