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Tag: Brownie Wise

  • Sandra Bullock To Play Famed Tupperware Saleswoman Brownie Wise

    On Friday, Sony Pictures announced that they acquired the rights to the novel Tupperware Unsealed, written by Bob Kealing. According to sources, several studios were bidding for the rights including Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers.

    The novel focuses on Brownie Wise, the woman responsible for making Tupperware a household brand name. Reports say that Sandra Bullock will be playing Wise in the film adaptation and Tate Taylor will be writing and directing the film, which is still untitled.

    Earl Tupper developed Tupperware, but it was not until Wise came into the picture that Tupperware took off.

    Wise was the first woman to grace the cover of Business Week. She created and popularized the Tupperware “party plan” marketing strategy in the 1950’s, making the Tupperware business successful. However, she and company co-founder Tupper had differences and she was fired under unknown circumstances. Tupperware was then sold to Dart Industries for $16 million after Tupper and Wise parted ways. The novel tackles Wise’s rise and fall.

    After leaving Tupperware, Wise tried to start her own cosmetics company, but she was not successful.

    President of production at Sony Hannah Minghella said, “As a writer-director, Tate has the rare and delicate ability to capture both the romanticism and the restrictions of a time and place—in this case 1950’s suburban America. His characters are both immediately recognizable while also uniquely iconic.”

    The movie will be Sandra Bullock’s first film role since her Oscar nomination for Gravity. Taylor said, “Sandy and I have been trying to work together for years. Finally, I’m very excited to put Tupperware in her hands. This is a collaborative dream come true.”

    Tupperware Unsealed will be produced by Tom Shelly together with Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films and Television. Some of their credits include The Muppets and The Fighter.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sandra Bullock to Star as Brownie Wise in Adaption of ‘Tupperware Unsealed’

    Sandra Bullock is set to play marketing pioneer Brownie Wise in Tate Taylor’s adaptation of Tupperware Unsealed, Sony Pictures announced Friday.

    Taylor — whose latest credits include The Help and Get On Up — will write and direct the yet-untitled film, which is based on Bob Kealing’s nonfiction book about the woman who concocted the Tupperware party marketing strategy.

    “As a writer-director, Tate has the rare and delicate ability to capture both the romanticism and restrictions of a time and place — in this case 1950s suburban America,” said Hannah Minghella, the president of production at Sony. “His characters are both immediately recognizable while also uniquely iconic.”

    The book tells the story of Wise, “the driving force behind making Tupperware a household name” and the first woman to appear on the cover of Business Week. The 50s-housewife-turned-businesswoman’s “party plan” marketing strategy was to sell products by inviting friends and acquaintances to social events, accompanied by a presentation of her products.

    “Sandy and I have been trying to work together for years,” Tate added in the statement. “Finally, I’m very excited to put Tupperware in her hands. This is a collaborative dream come true.”

    According to Deadline Hollywood, the story will focus on Wise’s start and include tensions between the businesswoman and Tupperware founder, Earl Silas Tupper.

    Tupper hired Wise in 1951, but tensions rose when she started getting so much attention for her Tupperware parties. He later fired her after other companies wanted to buy him as sales increased because of her strategy. Apparently, Tupper believed that having a woman executive would make the company less attractive to potential buyers. He sold the company for $16M and gave Wise a mere $35,000.

    Other projects in the works for the Gravity actress include voicing Scarlett Overkill in The Minions and co-starring with Melissa McCarthy in The Heat 2.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sandra Bullock May Play Tupperware Pioneer Brownie Wise in New Film

    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.

    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