Jane The Virgin‘s Gina Rodriguez has been announced as the star of a new rom-com for Netflix, Someone Great, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson directing. The rom-com is one of the many movie projects in the works for Netflix, which has been actively building up its original programming over the past few years, adding both films and series to its Netflix Originals catalog.
Rodriguez herself shot to fame after appearing in the titular role in Jane The Virgin, The CW’s series about a woman who gets accidentally artificially inseminated and decides to keep the baby. The series has been praised for its predominantly Latino cast and the way it both deals with serious issues as well as paying homage to the telenovella genre that inspired it. Now, Rodriguez will be teaming up with the Sweet/Vicious creator not only as the star of Someone Great, but a producer as well.
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The announcement comes via THR, which reports that Something Great will be about ‘a woman who, after a heart-wrenching break-up, decides to seek adventure in New York City with her two best friends before she moves across the country for her dream job’. Production on Something Great is set to begin in April, and director Kaytin Robinson also tweeted about the project:
I always wanted to watch a romantic comedy where a woman could be her own white knight. A movie that’s central love story revolves around female friendship. And now I get to make one. To be on this journey with @paulfeig, @HereIsGina and @netflix is a dream come true. pic.twitter.com/sd7RLyGpJm— Jenn Kaytin Robinson (@JennKaytin) February 26, 2018
From the description and the tweet, it’s clear that this is going to be a rom-com with a difference – the love story isn’t a boy-meets-girl scenario, but on that focuses on the love at the heart of female friendship. This refreshing take on the rom com is something that suits both Rodriguez and Kaytin Robinson down to the ground, given their most recent projects. Jane The Virgin, while including plenty of romance, also shines a light on the importance of the bond between women (not just friendships, but familial relationships as well). Sweet/Vicious also puts female friendships front and center, as two women in college band together to become campus vigilantes after sexual assault.
This isn’t the first time that Netflix has played with the classic format of the rom-com, either. Earlier this month, the streaming service released another original film, When We First Met, that also plays with some of the usual rom com tropes. Starring Adam DeVine, When We First Met takes apart the concept of the ‘friendzone’ and the men who put female friends on a pedestal – suggesting that Netflix is looking to do something a little different with their original romantic comedies; and we are more than happy to see that happen!
Of course, Netflix has also released a few more traditional romantic comedies as well, like the sob-bad-its-good holiday hit The Christmas Prince, or another February release, Love Per Square Foot. However, Someone Great promises to be a female-led film that doesn’t play into the usual tropes about finding love.
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Someone Great does not currently have a release date.
