EXCLUSIVE: After seeing his Amazon MGM romantic drama The Idea of You debut to glowing reviews on the closing night of SXSW, Michael Showalter has been set to reteam with the studio on Oh. What. Fun, a holiday comedy to star Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit).
In the film, Pfeiffer plays Claire Clauster, who organizes a special Christmas outing when her family forgets her in the shuffle. By the time they realize their mistake, she’s gone missing. Their Christmas is in jeopardy, but Claire has other plans.
Written by Showalter and Chandler Baker, the film is based on a short story from the latter that was originally published by Amazon Original Stories. Producers on the project include Showalter and Jordana Mollick via Semi-Formal Productions (The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Dropout), as well as Tribeca Productions’ Berry Welsh & Jane Rosenthal (The Irishman), and Kate Churchill (Amazon’s upcoming Holland, Michigan). Baker will serve as executive producer.
Most recently, Pfeiffer was seen reprising her role as original Wasp Janet Van Dyne in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, also starring as Betty Ford in Showtime anthology series, The First Lady. Prior to that, she starred opposite Lucas Hedges and Tracy Letts in Azazel Jacobs’s French Exit, earning a Golden Globe nomination for her work in the Sony Pictures Classics dramedy.
An Emmy-nominated writer, director, and producer, Showalter most recently wrote, directed, and produced The Idea of You, a May-December romance starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, which adapts Robinne Lee’s novel of the same name. Hathaway plays Sophie, a 40-year-old single mother who falls for the 24-year-old lead singer of a popular boy band while at Coachella with her daughter. Ahead of the buzz title’s SXSW launch, its trailer secured the most views for any Amazon original streaming feature ever, with more than 125 million. It’ll be available to stream on Prime Video May 2nd.
Also known for acclaimed films like Spoiler Alert, Oscar winner The Eyes of Tammy Faye and the Oscar-nominated The Big Sick, among others, Showalter’s TV credits include Wet Hot American Summer, The Dropout, Search Party, The Shrink Next Door, and I Love That for You. Currently set to direct and exec produce A24’s adaptation of #1 true crime podcast, The Girlfriends, he’s also been tapped to exec produce and direct the first episode of Paramount+’s forthcoming serial killer drama Happy Face. He and Mollick launched Semi-Formal, with an eye toward telling edgy, contemporary and socially aware stories, in 2018.
A screenwriter and New York Times bestselling author, Baker was tapped by Lionsgate earlier this year to adapt her short story “Big Bad,” with Chris Landon to direct and produce alongside Hidden Pictures. Her published work includes The Husbands, a Good Morning America Book Club pick she is currently adapting for Amazon MGM Studios and Plan B with Kristen Wiig; Cutting Teeth, which she’s adapting for TV following its publication last summer; and Whisper Network, a Reese’s Book Club pick initially optioned by HBO.
Pfeiffer is represented by Entertainment 360, CAA, and Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum; Showalter by UTA, Artists First, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; and Baker by CAA, Writers House, Mosaic, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.