‘The Heat’ Director Paul Feig Producing ‘Peanuts’

Raunchy comedy director says Charles Schulz’s characters were an early inspiration

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“Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig is the man who schooled Maya Rudolph on the niceties of curbside defecation while wearing a wedding gown, so it’s safe to say his next project is something of a departure.

Feig has signed on to produce “Peanuts,” Blue Sky’s animated version of Charles Schulz’s classic comic strip, as part of a production deal with Fox, a studio spokeswoman told TheWrap.

Unless Charlie Brown and Snoopy are going to undergo a radical overhaul, the whole enterprise promises to be a lot less raunchy than “Bridesmaids” or “The Heat,” the hit buddy cop comedy Feig directed last summer. But the comic director said that Schulz’s characters were among his favorites as a child.

“Growing up, Peanuts was my ‘Star Wars,’” Feig said in a statement. “Charles Schulz’s characters influenced everything in my career, especially ‘Freaks and Geeks.’ I’m thrilled I finally get to be pals with Charlie Brown and Snoopy.”

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Steve Martino (“Ice Age: Continental Drift“) will direct the film from a screenplay by Craig Schulz and the writing team of Bryan Schulz & Cornelius Uliano.  Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Uliano, are producing along with Feig

“Peanuts” hit theaters on November 6, 2015.

In addition to producing “Peanuts,” Feig is currently directing the female spy comedy “Susan Cooper,” starring his old “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat” cohort, Melissa McCarthy.

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