I’d hesitate to label 21 Jump Street as some sort of breakout for Brie Larson‘s — most of the talk around it focused on lines pertaining to science and certain cameos — but, nevertheless, March’s comedy allowed the actress to display a range beyond any of her co-stars. Heck, I didn’t even realize it was Scott Pilgrim‘s Envy Adams until the end credits — and, let’s just say, I’ve seen that movie enough times to place its cast.

Both are goofy and don’t give her a lot of dramatic material to handle, but that surprising ability to jump character types gives yours truly confidence in the next update. As it were, Deadline reports that Larson has agreed to start in Short Term 12, which Destin Cretton will adapt from his award-winning short film of the same title.

Assuming the genders have been switched around, the official site‘s synopsis should apply to his feature version. It’s there Short Term 12 is summarized as the story of a “supervisor for a residential facility housing 15 kids who are all affected by child abuse and neglect in unimaginable ways.” Although the main character, played by Larson this time out, is able to handle daily conflicts, her own past makes her question if “[s]he is no better off than the kids [s]he’s trying to help.” The main thrust, then, is a “gritty and honest look at how human beings, no matter the age, inevitably impact each other.”

More blistering stuff than scenes of Jonah Hill in a Peter Pan costume (I need to rewatch that now), which should provide exactly the sort of career balance any young actor is wise to strike; it can’t help but leave me anxious to see Larson go about doing the part herself, too. A production schedule of some sort hasn’t been provided, though I expect Short Term 12 to get going after she films Peter Bogdanovich‘s Squirrel to the Nuts, another project which carries a lot of potential on its shoulders.

You can watch a (low-quality) trailer for Cretton‘s original work below:

Do Larson and the described project create any appeal for Short Term 12?