Amy Adams, Paul Rudd & Tessa Thompson Set For Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris’ FilmNation Comedy ‘The Invite’ Based On Acclaimed Spanish Pic ‘Sentimental’

EXCLUSIVE: Amy Adams (Arrival), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man franchise) and Tessa Thompson (Creed franchise) have closed deals to star in the comedy The Invite, which Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) will direct for FilmNation Entertainment and Permut Presentations, multiple sources tell Deadline.

FilmNation had no comment. But the film is based on Cesc Gay’s Goya-winning 2020 Spanish comedy Sentimental, which has already spurred remakes in Italy, Switzerland and elsewhere.

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Pic tells the story of Joe (Rudd) and Angela (Adams), who after 15 years of marriage, find that their relationship is in a rut. Desperate to have a conversation that isn’t focused on their marital woes, Angela invites their boisterous neighbors, Kayla (Thompson) and Shane, over for cocktails. Joe, irritated at having to engage with this disruptive couple, plans to use the occasion to confront them; however, both he and Angela get far more than they bargained for as sparks fly and they discover Shane and Kayla are hosting weekly orgies and have an invite of their own to offer.

The script for The Invite is written by Emmy nominee Rashida Jones and Academy Award winner Will McCormack, who co-wrote the indie romatic dramedy Celeste & Jesse Forever in which Jones and Andy Samberg starred, also jointly contributing to the story of Toy Story 4. Producers include Academy Award nominee David Permut (Hacksaw Ridge) for Permut Presentations and FilmNation Entertainment. FilmNation Entertainment is launching international sales at Cannes, and co-repping U.S. sales with UTA Independent Film Group.

Best known for directing the Oscar-winning Searchlight dramedy Little Miss Sunshine, Dayton and Faris also teamed with the studio on the tennis drama Battle of the Sexes with Emma Stone and Steve Carell, as well as Ruby Sparks starring Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan. The married team most recently directed and exec produced the acclaimed Hulu miniseries Fleishman Is in Trouble and previously did the same on Netflix’s series Living with Yourself starring Rudd.

Adams most recently wrapped production on Marielle Heller’s adaptation of the Rachel Yoder novel Nightbitch, which she starred in and produced via her Bond Group Entertainment banner. Among her other upcoming projects is the political dramedy Average Height, Average Build, reteaming her with McKay, which has her sharing the screen with Robert Pattinson, Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker and Danielle Deadwyler, and just landed at Netflix.

Rudd most recently returned to the MCU with Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, prior to that starring in Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and is now in production on a sequel to the latter. On the TV side, he most recently exec produced and starred in both Apple TV+’s The Shrink Next Door with Will Ferrell and Living with Yourself. He can next be seen starring opposite Meryl Streep, Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez in the third season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.

Thompson most recently reprised her role as Bianca in the Michael B. Jordan-directed Creed III, last year reprising her role of Valkyrie in Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder. She will begin production this spring on Nia DaCosta’s film Hedda for MGM’s Orion and Plan B, which she’s also producing via her Viva Maude banner. Thompson most recently starred, on the TV side, in HBO’s Westworld.

In addition to the Oscar-winning Hacksaw Ridge, Permut has produced titles including The Polka King, Youth in Revolt, Charlie Bartlett, Farce of the Penguins and Face/Off, to name a few.

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