Ed Helms Joins Jennifer Garner In ‘Family Leave’; McG To Direct & Produce Netflix Body-Swap Comedy

Ed Helms (Together Together) and McG (The Babysitter) have boarded the Netflix body swap comedy Family Leave, inspired by New York Times bestselling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s book, Bedtime for Mommy. Helms will star alongside the previously announced Jennifer Garner, with McG serving as the project’s director and producer.

The film first announced back in February of 2021 follows Jess and Bill Walker, who are doing their best to keep their family connected as their children grow older, more independent, and more distant. When a chance encounter with an astrological reader causes the family to wake up to a full body switch, on the morning of the most important day of each of their lives, can the Walkers unite to land a promotion, college interview, record deal and soccer tryout?

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Family Leave is a continuation of McG’s recent work with Netflix on titles like The Babysitter, Holidate, the Tall Girl pics and the upcoming dystopian fantasy Uglies starring Joey King, among others. Adam Sztykiel (Black Adam, Scoob!) is writing the latest draft of the script — working from a screenplay by Victoria Strouse. Producers are Lawrence Grey and Ben Everard for Grey Matter Productions, Nicole King Solaka for Linden Entertainment, Garner, and McG and Mary Viola for Wonderland. David Hyman and Jason Brian Rosenthal are serving as executive producers.

Helms recently co-created and wrote (with Mike Schur and Sierra Teller Ornelas) Peacock’s comedy series Rutherford Falls, also co-hosting and exec producing the streamer’s hybrid comedy True Story with Ed & Randall alongside Randall Park. The actor and comedian has recently appeared in big screen titles including Nikole Beckwith’s critically acclaimed Sundance romantic comedy, Together Together, opposite Patti Harrison; Coffee & Kareem opposite Taraji P. Henson; and Patrick Brice’s Corporate Animals opposite Demi Moore. Other notable credits include The Office, The Daily Show, The Hangover trilogy, Tag, Vacation, Chappaquiddick, and The Fake News with Ted Nelms, for which he received the 2019 WGA Award for Best Comedy/Variety Special.

Additional past feature directing credits for McG include The Babysitter: Killer Queen, Rim of the World, 3 Days to Kill, This Means War, Terminator Salvation, We Are Marshall, Charlie’s Angels, and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. Notable recent credits for the director-producer on the television side include The Winchesters and Turner & Hooch.

Helms is represented by UTA, Artists First, and Schreck Rose Dapello; McG by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

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