Michael Showalter Will Direct Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer’s Holiday Comedy
Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer‘s new film has been making headlines the past few months for a few reasons. For one, a film reuniting The Help costars is awesome enough to pique interest. It piqued so much interest, in fact, that it prompted a heated studio bidding war, eventually landing at Universal. But the untitled comedy is also the same project that got Spencer five times her initial salary after Chastain advocated for Spencer, insisting the two to be paid the same. And now more good news has arrived: the film has a great director.
Following up on The Big Sick, Michael Showalter has boarded the project to direct. The comedy is being penned by Peter Chiarelli, who wrote Now You See Me 2 and the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians adaptation. Chastain, who is also producing, co-wrote the treatment with her Freckle Films president Kelly Carmichael.
We don’t know a ton of details yet, but the holiday road trip comedy will follow Chastain and Spencer “fighting the elements to make it home for Christmas,” according to Variety. The film has previously been described as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles-esque, which sounds even more promising. Having The Big Sick director onboard definitely has me even more pumped for the film, and it’s especially exciting to look forward to a female-led project knowing both leads are getting paid what they deserve.
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