In an upcoming film, Tupperware parties get the Hollywood treatment.
Sandra Bullock has not yet inked a deal to play Tupperware pioneer Brownie Wise in a new movie, but this could happen soon. Tate Taylor, who directed the critically acclaimed and Academy Award nominated film The Help, is attached to direct this movie about the rise of Tupperware and Wise.
David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman of Mandeville Films/TV will produce the project. The production company’s credits include the movies Warm Bodies, The Muppets movies, and The Fighter. For the last several months, they’ve been developing a package to hopefully find a company to pick up the film for distribution. A likely candidate is Disney, because Hoberman and Lieberman already have a deal with the company.
The script for the film, written by Taylor, will be based on the non-fiction book Tupperware Unsealed by Bob Kealing.
Reduce, Reuse and no need to Recycle. Tupperware is perfect for #EarthDay. pic.twitter.com/KwdpDe4CxE
— Tupperware Products (@TupperwareWW) April 22, 2014
In 1948, Earl Silas Tupper developed Tupperware, but these products didn’t become popular until the 1950s when Wise, as sales executive, introduced the “party plan.” The idea involved exclusively selling Tupperware products at parties hosted by women; these parties eventually became a national craze. In 1954, Wise became the first woman to grace the cover of Business Week.
From there, Wise started to clash with Tupper, and he eventually pushed her out in 1958. She was left with no stock or any ties to the company. Wise attempted to form her own cosmetic company, Cinderella, with a similar marketing strategy as the Tupperware party planning, but the company didn’t succeed. Many see Wise as one of the first victims of the sexism wars that developed in post-World War II America. Wise never fully recovered from Tupper’s actions, faded out of the spotlight, and died in 1992.
If Bullock signs on for the project, it will be her first post-Gravity live action film; Gravity got her a $70 million pay check and another Oscar nomination.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Gravity Movie UK, Twitter