Elizabeth Banks Set To Star in a Film about a Wyoming Hotel Maid That Went on a Dream Date with Prince
Paramount Players has picked up the right to a story from the Daily Beast titled "When Prince Made a Chambermaid His Queen for a Day". Elizabeth is set to star in and produce the film, which tells the story of a Wyoming hotel maid that won a dream date with Prince in 1986. Here's the story of how that went down and what the story will focus on:
The studio staged Win A Date With Prince, an MTV contest in which the 10,000th caller won a date with the rock star. Actually, more than a date: the studio would stage a premiere of Prince’s film in the winner’s hometown, followed by a concert toplined by Prince and The Revolution. The winner was Lisa Barber, a young lady in Sheridan, Wyoming who cleaned hotels and was a big Motley Crue fan. The movie is inspired by an article about the Cinderella story date, but the movie will be about how the event changed the lives of two very different women – the Manhattan PR exec responsible for the event’s success and the shy, awkward contest winner from Wyoming, whose town becomes the unexpected nexus of all things Prince for one unforgettable night.
The report goes on to say that Prince will not be in the movie and clarifies he will not be played by an actor. It's explained that "his presence will hover through the film." The report adds:
The movie will focus on the herculean effort that went into organizing an event that brought the 5’3″ purple-clad rock icon to a small cowboy town and established his date as a reluctant media sensation. As the article implied “behind the scenes, coke-fueled chaos reigned.” This added to the complexity because though Prince died from an accidental overdose of the opiod Fentanyl at age 57 (he took the drug to dull the pain from the physical toll of executing his manic dance moves and jumps wearing his ever present high heeled boots) — Prince at the time was a teetotaler who actually fined his guitarist Wendy Melvoin for drinking a Bud at the bar with Joni Mitchell that night.
Banks will play the publicist in the story, Robyn Riggs, in the film and it's said that she "was no choir girl." This sounds like an interesting story to tell and I'll be looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Screenwriter Flora Greeson was hired to rewrite a first draft that originally written by producer Josh Stolberg. Here's some old video footage giving you a little more insight into the story.
Source: Deadline