Melissa McCarthy To Star In Richard Curtis-Scripted Christmas Comedy For Universal, Working Title & Peacock; Sam Boyd To Direct
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EXCLUSIVE: Universal and Working Title have set Melissa McCarthy to star in an untitled Christmas-in-New York movie that will be written by Love Actually scribe Richard Curtis and directed by Sam Boyd.
They’re making the film for Peacock, and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce with Riva Marker from Nicole King and Stacy O’Neill’s Linden Productions.
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The film is a fairy-tale comedy about a workaholic man who enlists the help of a magical genie to help win his family back before Christmas.
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Boyd wrote and created the Anna Kendrick romantic comedy series Love Life for HBO Max, and he wrote and directed In a Relationship, the HBO Max film that stars Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano and Dree Hemingway.
Emmy winner and Oscar nominee McCarthy just wrapped Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story with Hugh Grant and Amy Schumer, as well as the highly anticipated Rob Marshall-directed live-action Little Mermaid.
Deal puts Curtis back in business with Working Title and Universal. He most recently worked with them on the 2019 Universal comedy Yesterday, starring Himesh Patel and Lily James for director Danny Boyle; Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!; and the time travelling comedy/drama About Time.
Marker most recently produced the crime drama/thriller The Guilty, starring Jake Gyllenhaal directed by Antoine Fuqua. Her other recent productions include Beasts of No Nation directed by Cary Fukunaga, the horror/mystery Relic and The Devil All the Time for director Antonio Campos for Netflix.
Universal’s Senior EVP Production Development Erik Baiers and Director of development Christine Sun will oversee the project for the studio. Alexandra Loewy is overseeing the project for Working Title.
McCarthy is represented by CAA and Christian Donatelli at MGMT Entertainment; Curtis is represented by Anthony Jones at United Agents; Boyd is represented by UTA, Grandview and Hansen Jacobson.
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