Jennifer Garner to play a youthful 'Miss Marple'

By Sarah Sluis

Agatha Christie's most famous detective character, Miss Jane Marple, has come out of retirement. And in her next film, she'll be forty years younger. Jennifer Garner has signed on to play the amateur sleuth in a project being developed by Disney.

So far, reception hasn't been entirely positive. The comments by Deadline readers, for example, have been overwhelmingly negative, zeroing in on the fact that Miss Marple is supposed to be an old spinster, with pretty age-specific character traits. She was modeled, after all, on Christie's grandmother. Some commenters feel the younger audiences won't be familiar with Christie's books or her character, so attempting to appeal to their demographic will be a futile exercise. These are both valid critiques. I see a diamond in the rough, however. Christie's detective stories are compelling whodunits that hinge on seemingly insignificant details. They have a familiar tone and temperature. Perhaps that's what the acquisition is after.

While the idea of making Miss Marple younger is questionable, I'm 100% behind Jennifer Garner. She's incredibly likeable as a movie star and leading lady who made her name in "Alias" as a powerful spy (the show was produced by a then up-and-coming J.J. Abrams). She's at home in the mystery/suspense genre.

Garner, however, has company. Katherine Heigl will star as Stephanie Plum in Lionsgate's One for the Money, the first in a series of popular (and contemporary) detective novels by Janet Evanovich. Lionsgate recently moved the film from a prime release spot over Fourth of July weekend to an ominous "2011 TBD" release date, often a sign that the studio has lost confidence in the project. The revival of the Miss Marple series, then, fits into a larger development trend of studios recasting female stars away from "light" roles in romantic comedies in favor of "light" action comedies--like Heigl following up 27 Dresses with Killers and now One for the Money.

Aging down Miss Marple is a bit of a stretch, but Disney knows brands. I don't need to see Garner as Miss Marple, but I would like to see her in a detective role. Maybe that's all that matters.