Variety reports Adam Shankman is set to direct What Men Want for Paramount Players. The film is a comedy inspired by Nancy Meyers’ 2000 hit What Women Want. Taraji P. Henson will portray the lead with no other cast members confirmed as of yet. Henson will also produce along with Will Packer (Ride Along) and rom-com queen, Jennifer Lopez (The Boy Next Door)-
The original Meyers film had Mel Gibson in the lead role as a chauvinistic marketing exec who is suddenly granted the ability to hear what women think after a freak incident involving multiple ladies items. What Men Want will see Henson portray a sports agent who is constantly disregarded by her male colleagues. When she is bestowed the power of hearing what men think, she utilizes her newfound ability by striving to sign the NBA’s next superstar. While there’s no word on how she gains her respective power, I wonder if they will be taking a note out of Meyers’ original and making Henson’s character try on various male items – perhaps she has a similar freak accident involving aftershave or cologne.
Shankman’s filmography includes directing What Men Want producer Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey in The Wedding Planner, the tear jerker A Walk to Remember, and the 2007 remake of Hairspray. Variety also reports that following his work on What Men Want, he will begin production on the sequel to 2007’s Enchanted with Disenchanted, starring main players Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden.
Henson recently starred in the action thriller Proud Mary and has three more films set for release this year, including Acrimony, The Best of Enemies and Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.
What Men Want is slated for release on January 11, 2019.
