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Aziz Ansari makes his directorial debut with Chance at Lionsgate, a film he will also write and star alongside Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen. Lionsgate will kick off sales of the photo at Cannes next month, which is also when the cameras are rolling in Los Angeles. The screenplay is in an envelope.
Joe Drake, Chairman of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said: “We have indeed found good fortune with this film. We love the script and strongly believe in Aziz as a performer and director. And when you add Seth and Keanu – two incredible world-class talents – to headline alongside Aziz, it has the potential to be a very special movie for us. We acted quickly to land this project once it was available.
Pic is produced by Anthony Katagas, Alan Yang and Ansari. Brady Fujikawa and Jon Humphrey are directing the film for Lionsgate. Dan Freedman, Phil Strina, John Biondo and Matt Leonetti played key roles in brokering the deal for Lionsgate.
Lions Gate
Ansari is 7x Emmy nominated and 2x winner for his writing on the series master of nothing, which he created with Alan Yang. He is also known for his seven season run as Tom Haverford on Parks and recreation. He is represented by WME, 3 Arts, Ocean Avenue and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman.
Reeves is currently starring in the gigantic Lionsgate hit John Wick: Chapter 4 which just cleared $350 million at the worldwide box office and counting. He will then reprise his role as John Wick in Lionsgate’s Ballerina, with Ana de Armas. He is represented by WME, Sugar23 and Ziffren Brittenham.
Rogen is currently voicing the role of Donkey Kong in The movie Super Mario Bros. which is heading towards a billion at the global box office, the first picture of 2023 to do so. His upcoming work as an actor includes feature film dumb money and the AppleTV+ series Platonic, opposite Rose Byrne. As a producer, his company Point Grey, with Evan Goldberg and James Weaver, is based in Lionsgate; their next movietower of joy, will be released in July. The company also produced the highly anticipated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Paramount. He is represented by UTA, Principal Entertainment LA and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson McGinnis Ryan.
Katagas received the Oscar for his production of 12 years of slavery. His most recent films are armageddon time And Amsterdam.
Yang served as co-creator and showrunner of master of nothing alongside Ansari, winning an Emmy for her writing. His most recent credits include co-creating and streaming the Apple TV+ series Booty with Maya Rudolph. He is represented by WME and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
Ansari previously had another director be mortal in production at Searchlight, however, production was suspended due to Bill Murray’s alleged inappropriate behavior.