The upcoming gender-swapped reboot of the 1999 romantic comedy She’s All That, which has been ingeniously titled He’s All That, has now been nabbed by Netflix in a deal that reportedly cost the streaming giant somewhere in the region of $20 million. Starring TikTok sensation-turned-actress Addison Rae and Cobra Kai star Tanner Buchanan, Netflix will release the reimaging sometime this year.
The movie’s popular predecessor, She’s All That, stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachel Leigh Cook, and Paul Walker, and centers on high school jock Zach, who is dumped by his queen-bee girlfriend and so makes a bet with his friends to take geeky Laney and make her prom queen. What he did not bet on, as the characters never do in these movies, was falling in love with her. The story is based on My Fair Lady by George Bernard Shaw, and while She’s All That was not particularly well received upon release, it has garnered something of a following in the years since. Expect He’s All That to follow a very similar plot with the roles simply reversed, often to comedic affect.
The new take, He’s All That, will be told from the perspective of the female lead, with Addison Rae set to star as influencer Padgett Sawyer, a character inspired by Freddie Prinze Jr.’s role in the first movie. The story will follow a similar set up, only this time with the gender-swapped twist, as Padgett is tasked with turning the school’s biggest loser, played by Tanner Buchanan, into prom king.
He’s All That is being directed by Mean Girls and Freaky Friday filmmaker Mark Waters, from a script written by R. Lee Fleming, who also wrote the 1999 outing. In addition, original She’s All That producers Jennifer Gigbot and Andrew Panay are also on board, producing the latest version with Bill Block for Miramax. It is also being reported that, due to the involvement of Addison Rae, TikTok are also involved in some capacity.
Original She’s All That star Rachael Leigh Cook will also star in the reboot, and while it was previously believed that she would reprise the role of Laney Boggs from the first movie, it has since been revealed that she will play a new character entirely. Named Anna Sawyer, Cook will star in He’s All That as the mother of Rae’s character, Padgett. Making up the rest of the supporting cast are Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, Annie Jacob, Myra Molloy and Matthew Lillard.
Cook previously took to social media to celebrate the upcoming remake saying, “I’m thrilled to be reunited with so many familiar faces! This version has a great new spin that I think people will really enjoy.” Though in the past, Cook has noted that she would prefer the movie be a direct sequel rather than a reboot saying, “I would be fascinated to know how they would consider doing that, but I could never answer that blindly. I think that She’s All That is an inherently high school story, but I think that there’s definitely room for revamping that idea again to bring it to a new audience.” So, was Cook talked around to the idea of something entirely new, or is her role as Laney being kept a secret? Only time will tell…
He’s All That is expected to hit Netflix later this year. This comes to us courtesy of Deadline.