Michelle Trachtenberg Was Working To Expose MATTEL In Screenplay Before Her Sudden Death!

It sounds like after stepping back from Hollywood for several years, Michelle Trachtenberg was looking to make a career comeback before her sudden death.

Apparently, she had a lot of things in the works. Not only did the actress have a special screening of the mental health documentary Spyral, which she voice acted on, at South By Southwest this month and “in talks” to return to Buffy, but she was close to scoring a deal for a screenplay she had been working on for years.

Director and producer Casey Tebo revealed to TMZ on Monday that Michelle wrote a biopic based on the 2009 book Toy Monster by Jerry Oppenheimer that exposed the “big, bad world of Mattel.” The film follows the controversial life of Jack Ryan, the guy who became the chief engineer for the toy company during the creation of Barbie, Chatty Cathy, and Hot Wheels. And according to Casey, it was one of the best screenplays he had ever seen! Wow!

The Black Friday director said he and Michelle worked for years to get the project funded and made. A while back, the Gossip Girl alum got a major studio to take on the movie, but the plans fell through! He claimed the studio head left the company to manage another one, and they unfortunately got the boot! That meant they were back at square one. It wasn’t until a few months ago that they finally had a breakthrough as a “very successful finance studio” was interested in the project. However, Michelle won’t get to see the whole thing through to the end. She sadly passed away last Wednesday.

Now Casey shared that everything has been put on pause. He’s not giving up on the film, though. The producer expressed that he’s determined to make it in the Ice Princess star’s honor as she would have wanted him to continue with it no matter what. Not only that, Casey wants everyone to see her amazing work.

He said the screenplay impressed studios when it was pitched, and that fans will get to know how “brilliant” of a writer Michelle was. All of this is so “tragic” to him because the industry neglected her talent for years since they only saw her as the young girl from Harriet the Spy, the hot girl in EuroTrip, or the villain Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl. What Casey wishes is that the project will move forward and Michelle will finally get the recognition she deserves.

It breaks our hearts that Michelle won’t see her project come to life, but we hope this doesn’t get shelved forever. She worked so hard, and to have it not completed would be devastating.

Reactions, Perezcious readers? Do you want the film to be made still? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image via Mattel/Access Hollywood/YouTube]