As everyone selects the A-listers who deserve to be the next James Bond, Blake Lively is quietly making the character irrelevant. Okay, so maybe "irrelevant" is a strong word — but she's certainly getting us hyped for her turn as a super spy.
According to Deadline, Lively's latest action flick Rhythm Section is already earning major insider buzz, so much so that the film was pushed from its February release date to November 22, the Friday before Thanksgiving.
That's a key slot, for a few reasons. It means that Paramount, the studio behind the film, has the utmost confidence that the movie can draw in a big holiday crowd. It also means that there's greater potential for award season nods. With outlets describing Lively's performance as "fantastic," it seems that the Gossip Girl alum could score some of the biggest awards of her career.
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Reed Morano, who won an Emmy for directing a season 1 episode of The Handmaid's Tale in 2017, directs the film.
The movie has a juicy premise: Based on screenwriter Mark Burnell's novel of the same name, the film is about a woman who assumes an assassin's identity to take down the people who murdered her family. Those are higher emotional stakes than the time Serena van der Woodsen thought she killed that guy!
Lively certainly deserves another big, splashy role: Her excellent turn in A Simple Favor was quite memeable, but wasn't appreciated by the big award shows. Let's hope that her star turn in Rhythm Section has award voters singing a different tune.