Bad Teacher Cameron Diaz will star in Annie the movie, to be released Christmas 2014. In this modern day version of the Little Orphan Annie comic strip, Annie is an African American girl living in Harlem with a mean white foster mom, Miss Hannigan, played by Cameron Diaz. Quvenzhané Wallis, star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, is Annie. Jamie Foxx plays the ‘Daddy Warbucks’ role as New York City mayoral candidate Benjamin Stacks.
Annie is directed by one of its producers Will Gluck (Friends With Benefits, The Michael J. Fox Show). The other producers are Jay Z and Will Smith. Gluck also helped write the screenplay, as did Oscar winner Emma Thompson who starred in and wrote Nanny McPhee. Thompson knows how to transform an ugly witch (in Diaz’s case, ugly on the inside) into a beautiful woman.
