Welcome back Studio Coffee Folks! Today we’ve got news on a new Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd-lead dark comedy called The Shrink Next Door, as well as casting calls for Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller and a look at another of HBO’s new series.
Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell team for Apple TV+ with The Shrink Next Door
Apple TV+ gives another straight-to-series order for the Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd–lead The Shrink Next Door, an eight-episode limited TV series based on a podcast of the same name. For the project, the Anchorman co-stars will be working with director Micahel Showalter (The Big Sick) and writer Georgia Pritchett (Veep). Based on true events of a doctor/patient relationship gone terribly, terribly wrong, Rudd plays Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf and Ferrell plays his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz. Per Deadline, the show explores themes of manipulation and dysfunction as Ike eventually takes over his patients home, and even his family business.
Olivia Wilde taps Florence Pugh, Shia LaBeouf, and Chris Pine to star in her next movie
Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling has cast Florence Pugh, Shia LaBeouf, and Chris Pine to star. The psychological thriller is set in a 1950s California desert, where an isolated desert community is settled and a housewife (Pugh) begins tugging at the loose threads of her seemingly idyllic life. Wilde will direct and star in the movie, with Booksmart co-writer Katie Silberman handling the most recent version of the script. Pugh is most recently known for her Oscar-nominated performance in last year’s Little Women, while LaBeouf caught the attention of the indie world with Honey Boy and Pine continues to be recognized as the most recent versions of Captain Kirk and Steve Trevor. Don’t Worry Darling was picked up several months ago by New Line in a competitive auction.
YA novelist Patrick Ness set to tackle Lord of the Flies adaptation with Call Me By Your Name director
Chaos Walking and A Monster Calls writer Patrick Ness will be adapting William Golding’s Lord of the Flies for Warner Bros., with Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino already signed. If you recall hearing about a female-forward version of this movie, this is the same one – but apparently Warner Bros. has since shifted again, opting now to follow the original novel closer, per THR. Ness and Guadagnino’s take will be the third theatrical outing for the 1954 novel, following its 1990 and 1963 iterations. This time around, Known Universe will take care of production, along with Guadagnino and his partner, Marco Morabito.
Ryan Reynolds will team up with his 13 year-old self in his next movie
Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy, the team behind the upcoming Free Guy, are already making plans for their next movie, based on a project previously known as Our Name is Adam. Written by Jonathan Tropper (This Is Where I Leave You), the movie is being reworked into something different than when it originated in 2012, since then attaching itself to Skydance, Paramount and even Tom Cruise for a short while. The story follows Reynolds as a dude who goes back in time to seek help from his 13 year-old self – but ends up meeting their dead father, who’s now the same age as Reynolds. Levy directs while Reynolds Maximum Effort handles production, per THR.
Content warning in this trailer for discussion of sexual assault.
Michaela Coel reveals a trailer for her upcoming HBO series about sexual assault
I May Destroy You stars and is created by BAFTA award-winner Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum). The upcoming HBO series follows Arabella Essiuedu as an up-and-coming writer with a piece that’s just gone viral and her first major book deal staring in her in the face. To celebrate, she goes out with some old friends, has a few drinks and mistakes a blackout for something much worse. The series follows Arabella as she pieces together what happened that evening, and eventually coping with the realization that she was sexually assaulted. Coel herself has been outspoken about her own assault and tells Deadline that “like any other experience I’ve found traumatic, it’s been therapeutic to write about it, and actively twist a narrative of pain into one of hope, and even humor.” Look for I May Destroy to hit HBO in June.