featuring @patrickschwarzenegger @yoyogeraldine
Focus Features has greenlit Old Friends New Friends, a new comedy that will mark Mike Birbiglia’s first feature film in a decade.
The project comes shortly after Birbiglia announced he would cancel a select number of stand-up dates with John Mulaney to make time for what he described as a “dream project.” Production is expected to begin this fall.
Birbiglia will direct the film from his own screenplay, with Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Beach Read), Geraldine Viswanathan (Thunderbolts) and Dylan Gelula (Dream Scenario) attached to star.
Old Friends New Friends follows a close-knit group of college friends who reunite at a summer camp for the wedding of an old friend. But when they discover that the groom has built an entirely new life surrounded by new friends, the reunion forces them to reckon with how much they have changed — and what they may have lost along the way.
The film explores friendship, growing up and the uncomfortable realization that moving forward in life can sometimes mean growing apart from the people who once knew you best.
Birbiglia will also produce alongside Jacob Jaffke, whose credits include the X trilogy and Dream Scenario, and Joe Hartwick, producer of the Maze Runner franchise and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The film will be produced through Oddball Entertainment.
Birbiglia made his feature directorial debut with Sleepwalk with Me, the acclaimed 2012 semi-autobiographical dramedy about a struggling stand-up comedian whose severe sleepwalking and anxiety over marriage begin to threaten both his relationship and career. The film was adapted from Birbiglia’s one-man stage show of the same name and earned the Best of NEXT Audience Award at its Sundance premiere before being released by IFC Films.
He followed that with Don’t Think Twice, a 2016 ensemble comedy centered on a New York improv troupe whose dynamic begins to unravel after one member lands a career-changing television opportunity. The film starred Birbiglia alongside Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard, and premiered to critical acclaim at SXSW.
With Old Friends New Friends, Birbiglia returns to feature filmmaking with another comedy focused on relationships, identity and the complicated ways people change over time.
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