Irish comedian Sharon Horgan writing film for Reese Witherspoon

Irish comedy star Sharon Horgan has revealed she is penning a new movie for Oscar-winning actress/producer Reese Witherspoon.

The Meath writer with the Midas touch has been earning critical acclaim for her new TV series, Divorce , starring Sarah Jessica Parker.

Horgan has conquered the small screen a string of TV hits such as Pulling and Catastrophe but now she reveals she has her sights set on Hollywood.

She is following in the footsteps of best-selling author Cecilia Ahern, who has seen three of her novels get the Tinseltown treatment. PS I Love You became a huge success more than a decade ago, while her star-studded rom-com Love Rosie was also filmed in the capital.

Sharon Horgan tells next month’s Red magazine she has teamed up with the Walk the Line star who has recently produced hits like Gone Girl and Wild.

“Reese set up her own production company specifically to create better roles for women because she was fed up with getting sent scripts where she was some funny guy’s girlfriend. She saw Pulling and that’s why we hooked up,” she said.

The American actress took to Twitter a few months ago to tell of her love for Horgan’s TV sitcom, Catastrophe , which revolved around her surprise pregnancy in the show.

“New obsession, #Catastrophe on @AmazonVideo — @SharonHorgan & @robdelaney made me laugh so loud on a plane, I was told to be quiet…twice”, tweeted Reese Witherspoon.

The Irish writer said she was delighted with the glowing endorsement from the comedy actress.

“She was so great about Catastrophe. She definitely piled a few extra thousand viewers by Instagramming about it.” The TV funnywoman teamed up with Rob Delaney to make the single camera romantic comedy about an Irish woman and an American man who end up in a relationship in London.

The 46-year-old actress, who has two daughters, Sadhbh, 12, and Amer, 8, has said her own recollections of her pregnancies were part of the inspiration for the character.

The in-demand star — sister of ex-Irish rugby player Shane Horgan — said she was bowled over when Parker approached her to write a show for her return to the small screen after the Sex And The City series.

She said: “We met for lunch in Manhattan. I thought I can’t meet Sarah Jessica Parker without making the effort. I was dolled up to the nines and she was in her workout clothes.

“She said she was interested in a project about a damaged relationship. I left in a daze thinking ‘Shit, I think I’m being asked to write a show for Sarah Jessica Parker’.”

Sex And The City was escapist and aspirational, said the Irish writer. “This is warts and all. It’s a very real look at a woman in the throes of a pretty awful divorce. Although I don’t think there are any nice divorces.”

Irish Examiner