As you might expect, with the news of Bad Robot’s rights acquisition only recently being announced, there’s been no word yet on casting. Of course, there have been plenty of fan-casts from the TikTokers who helped make the book such a success. Anya Taylor-Joy frequently pops up as a favorite to play the lead role of Samantha Mackey.
And with “Heathers” providing so much inspiration for Mona Awad, it might be that the producers reach out to Winona Ryder, even if it’s just for a cameo. The ’80s cult classic from “Batman Returns” scribe Daniel Waters has become somewhat of a coming-of-age touchstone, and fans have long been clamoring for a “Heathers” sequel. But while that looks like less and less of a possibility, it seems the “Bunny” movie might give audiences their fix of horror-tinged teen drama in the meantime.
Awad said as much during her Strand discussion: “As for the teen movies and things like that, yes I definitely was watching a lot of those when I was working on ‘Bunny.’ I wasn’t reading other books but I was watching those because those girl clique movies like ‘Heathers’ and like ‘The Craft’ and like ‘Mean Girls,’ they’re just so much fun […] I wanted that energy in the book.”
At this stage, it’s hard to say whether those films’ influence on the novel will have any impact on casting. But it gives you an idea of the kind of thing we can expect. And I’m just saying, if you really want to play up that fairy tale-meets-horror sensibility, surely there’s a part for Disney princess-turned-scream queen Jenna Ortega in there somewhere?