Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd Series ‘The Shrink Next Door’ Lands at Apple
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Great Odin’s Raven! There’s an “Anchorman” reunion on the cards at Apple TV Plus.
The streamer has handed a straight-to-series order for “The Shrink Next Door,” a comedy limited series which will see Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd reunite on screen for the first time since “Anchorman 2.” Apple won the rights to the series, which was announced earlier this year, in a highly competitive situation with multiple platforms in the running. In another example of how the industry is having to adapt to the coronavirus situation, sources with knowledge of the deal say it was conducted entirely virtually.
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Inspired by true events documented in the Wondery and Bloomberg Media podcast of the same name, “The Shrink Next Door” is described as a dark comedy following the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf (Rudd) and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz (Ferrell). Over the course of their relationship, Ike slowly takes over Marty’s life, even moving into Marty’s home and taking over his family business. The series explores how a seemingly normal doctor-patient dynamic morphs into an unprecedentedly exploitative relationship filled with manipulation, power grabs, and dysfunction at its finest.
The eight-episode series hails from Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television. “The Big Sick” director Michael Showalter is on board as a director, with “Succession” and “Veep” scribe Georgia Pritchett set to pen and showrun the dark comedy.
Pritchett, Rudd and Ferrell are also executive producing, the latter via his Gloria Sanchez Productions banner. Jessica Elbaum and Brittney Segal are also attached as EPs for Gloria Sanchez.
Showalter and Jordana Mollick will executive produce on behalf of Semi-Formal Productions, with Marshall Lewy exec producing for Wondery, and Jared Sandberg, Katie Boyce, and Francesca Levy for Bloomberg Media. Original podcast host Joe Nocera is involved as a co-executive producer.
Rudd, who recently starred in the well-received Netflix series “Living with Yourself,” is repped by UTA, Lighthouse Management+Media, and Jackoway Tyerman.
Ferrell was most recently seen in the comedy movie “Downhill” opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus. He is represented by repped by UTA, Mosaic, and Jackoway Tyerman.
Showalter is represented by UTA, Peter Principato at Artists First and Rick Genow and Hannah Mulderink at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher, LLP. UTA also reps Pritchett and Wondery.
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