Sebastian Stan and Maria Bakalova Join Paul Feig Spy Comedy at Paramount

Sebastian Stan and Maria Bakalova, both veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, are attached to star in a new spy comedy for Paramount Pictures with Paul Feig attached to produce and potentially direct, TheWrap has confirmed.

Jenny Bicks, a screenwriter known for “The Greatest Showman” and “Rio 2,” is writing the script based off of an original pitch. Plot details are currently unknown.

Feig is probably best known for directing “Bridesmaids,” which began a string of profitable, high-concept, female led comedies like “The Heat” and “Spy.” In 2016 he directed the all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot, which became a cultural flashpoint, cutting short a potential franchise and leaving Sony to quickly revert to a more traditional approach with the release of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” in 2021.

Since “Ghostbusters,” Feig directed the delicious dark comedy “A Simple Favor,” “Last Christmas” and most recently “The School for Good and Evil” for Netflix. Feig is currently in production on “Grand Death Lotto,” an awkwardly titled action comedy for Amazon starring John Cena, Awkwafina, Simu Liu and Sean William Scott. He is also supposedly in development on a “Simple Favor” sequel, set to once again star Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, this time for Amazon.

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Stan is, of course, best known for his performance as Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, in the Marvel Studios movies and streaming series. (He’ll next be seen as the character in 2024’s bad guy team up movie “Thunderbolts.”) Outside of Marvel, Stan has been seen in last year’s cannibal dark comedy “Fresh” and the A24 thriller “Sharper” for Apple.

He’ll soon reteam with A24 for “A Different Man” alongside Renate Reinsve and appear in the new movie from his “I, Tonya” and “Pam & Tommy” collaborator Craig Gillespie, “Dumb Money” (about the GameStop short squeeze).

Bakalova’s big breakthrough came in the form of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and in the years since has starred in diverse projects like Judd Apatow’s COVID comedy “The Bubble” and A24’s horror film “Bodies Bodies Bodies.”

Last year she debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the voice of Cosmo the talking Russian dog in “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” and will play the same role in next month’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” She’s also got “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story” for director Jerry Seinfeld and Netflix and “Dirty Angels” for “Casino Royale” director Martin Campbell.

Deadline first reported the news.

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