Catapulting her way through the standard comedian creative arc, the one that starts with light comedies, progresses into sadder comedies, and ends in boring people at dinner parties staring sincerely at you and saying, “You know, they’re actually a pretty great actor… When they try,” Amy Schumer has leap-frogged her way into her first truly dramatic role. The stand-up and actress has signed on for Thank You For Your Service, an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Finkel’s book about the struggles of veterans returning home from the war in Iraq. Oscar-nominated American Sniper screenwriter Jason Hall has adapted the non-fiction book, and is also set to direct.
There’s no word yet on which role Schumer will use to showcase her previously only hinted-at depths, or what kind of dialogue she’ll be delivering as audiences see the inner pain that fuels her acerbic wit. She joins a cast that includes Miles Teller and Haley Bennett, who, not being stand-up comics, will presumably have to resort to regular old acting to get their points across, instead of the heart-breaking juxtaposition between their usual, joke-cracking personas, and the vulnerability they expose on screen.