Elizabeth Banks Looking to Direct Young Adult Adaptation RED QUEEN

Following the success of Pitch Perfect 2, it was just a matter of time until actor/producer/director Elizabeth Banks found her next directorial gig. THR reports that she's in talks to direct Red Queen, Universal's upcoming film adaptation of Victoria Aveyard's best-selling young adult novel of the same name.

Here's the synopsis:

The YA fantasy is set in a world divided by blood color — red for ordinary people, silver for elites with supernatural abilities. When a street urchin saves her best friend, she is brought before the king and queen, where she suddenly displays special powers — powers impossible for a red blood. To hide this startling news and to keep her under control, the king invents a past for the young woman as a lost princess and sets her up to marry one of his sons. But the woman soon finds herself conflicted as she becomes part of the silver world while at the same time aiding a group plotting a red rebellion.

Well, this sounds like a typical young adult story in line with The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments, and Beautiful Creatures. Personally, it's going to take a lot more than that description to get me interested in the film version, but the involvement of Breaking Bad writer Gennifer Hutchinson on script duties is a step in the right direction. Hopefully Banks will be able to bring some flair to this project that will help it stand out from its contemporaries. At the very least, it should be an opportunity for her to work with a bigger canvas and get involved in some visual effects work on a scale she's never worked before.