Netflix Lands Adam McKay Movie Starring Robert Pattinson, Amy Adams

Adam McKay is returning to Netflix with his latest feature film.

Titled Average Height, Average Build, the project is being described as part serial killer-thriller, part comedy, that follows a killer who uses political lobbyists to change laws in order to make it easier for him to kill. Like all of McKay’s recent work, the project will tackle larger sociopolitical ills — à la the 2008 housing crisis (The Big Short) and climate crisis (Don’t Look Up) — taking on crime and corruption.

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McKay wrote the script and would direct the feature that hit the inbox of studio heads this week. Actors already attached include Robert Pattinson, who will play the moneyed killer, and Amy Adams as the lobbyist. As previously reported, Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker and Danielle Deadwyler are also in the cast. The actors in Average Height, Average Build so far are newcomers to the McKay school of big-issue comedy, save for Adams. She and McKay previously worked together on McKay’s Dick Cheney movie Vice. The script calls for many more characters to be filled in.

McKay finds himself back at Netflix after partnering with the studio on Don’t Look Up, which earned a best picture nomination. Despite a high wattage cast and McKay’s awards track record, Average Height, Average Build had a hard time finding a home, with sources noting that multiple studios passed on the project for budget reasons or had issues with the dark subject matter of the film. Apple, where McKay has a first-look deal, did not jump on the project.

McKay is planning on a late-summer shoot in Boston. The writer-director has already lined up key below-the-line talent including cinematographer Todd Banhazl, who worked on McKay’s HBO series Winning Time.

McKay’s Don’t Look Up starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, with an ensemble that included Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance and Tyler Perry. It was nominated for best picture, with McKay picking up a nomination for best original screenplay. According to the streamer, the movie was its second most popular film of all time globally with nearly 360 million hours viewed in the first 28 days after its release.

McKay is repped by WME and Johnson Shapiro. He executive produces HBO’s Succession, which is currently airing its final season.

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