The Oscar winner will also star in and produce the indie.
Brie Larson is moving to the director’s chair.

The actress, who won an Oscar this year for her leading performance in Room, is set to make her directorial debut with the quirky independent comedy Unicorn Store.

Larson will also star in the movie and produce it with David Bernad and Ruben Fleischer via their banner The District. Also producing are Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis and Terry Dougas through their Rhea Films, with their Hercules Film Fund providing the financing.

Based on an original screenplay by Samantha McIntyre, the story tells of a woman named Kit who, after moving back in with her parents, receives a mysterious invitation to a store that will test her idea of what it really means to grow up.

The project was at one point to have been directed by Miguel Arteta and to have starred Rebel Wilson but timing never worked out. Bernad and Fleischer continued to develop the project and brought it to Larson before she won her Academy Award. Larson is not coming into the project green; she previously co-wrote and co-directed short film The Arm, which won the jury prize at Sundance in 2012.

The next step was to secure financing.

Hercules Film Fund also co-financed the upcoming Tom Cruise movie Mena as well as Maika Monroe's Tau, which is is currently filming. Kasidokostas-Latsis and Dougas' other production banner, 1821 Media, produced Paul Weitz’ acclaimed dramedy Grandma for Sony Classics, scoring Lily Tomlin a Golden Globe nomination, and Gavin O'Connor’s Jane Got a Gun, the Western that starred Natalie Portman.

The deals are freshly inked and the filmmaking team is now prepping for an October production start. WME Global is repping the project and handling sales.

Jean-Luc De Fanti is exec producing Unicorn Store as is Anne Woodward.

Larson is the newest member of the Marvel Studios family, having become attached to star in the company's first female-centric film project, the high-profile Captain Marvel movie.

She next stars in Legendary’s big-budget creature feature Kong: Skull Island, which impressed the Comic-Con crowd with its footage, and reteams with her Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton for Lionsgate’s coming-of-age drama The Glass Castle. She also leads the cast of Free Fire, Ben Wheatley’s crime thriller being released by A24.

Larson is repped by WME, Authentic Talent & Literary Management and attorney Robert Offer.

MyCocaine wrote:Everyone is a director these days.

Allstar wrote:

MyCocaine wrote:Everyone is a director these days.

This is not a typical "I want to be a director because I won an Oscar". Larson directed shorts with her friends before she was famous. I'm curious what she brings.

MyCocaine wrote:Everyone is a dictator these days.

Samuel L. Jackson, Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford will join Brie Larson in her directorial debut, Unicorn Store.

Based on an original screenplay by Samantha McIntyre, Unicorn Store centers on a woman (Larson) who moves back in with her parents. She receives an invitation to a store that will test her ideas of what it really means to grow up.

Larson, Lynette Howell Taylor, Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis, Terry Dougas and The District's David Bernad and Ruben Fleischer, who developed the script, are producing the film, which is executive produced by Jean-Luc De Fanti, Anne Woodward and McIntyre. Hercules Film Fund is fully financing with Rhea Films producing the film, which just began principal photography in Los Angeles.