Aziz Ansari is making his feature directorial debut with Good Fortune at Lionsgate, a movie he’ll also write and star alongside with Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen. Lionsgate will launch sales for the pic at Cannes next month, which is also when cameras roll in LA. The storyline is under wraps.
Beamed Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Joe Drake, “We have indeed found good fortune with this film. We love the script and believe strongly in Aziz as both a performer and a director. And when you add in Seth and Keanu – two incredible world-class talents — toplining alongside Aziz, this has the potential to be a very special film for us. We moved 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 steering the movie for Lionsgate. Dan Freedman, Phil Strina, John Biondo, and Matt Leonetti were key in negotiating the deal for Lionsgate.
Lionsgate
Ansari is a 7x Emmy nominee and 2x winner for his writing on the series Master of None, 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 currently stars in Lionsgate’s mammoth success John Wick: Chapter 4 which just cleared $350M at the global box office and counting. He will next reprise his role as John Wick in Lionsgate’s Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. He is represented by WME, Sugar23, and Ziffren Brittenham.
Rogen currently voices the role of Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Bros. Movie which is heading toward a billion at the global box office, the first pic of 2023 to do so. His upcoming work as an actor includes the 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 at Lionsgate; their next film, Joy Ride, 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.
Katagaswas honored with the Academy Award for his production of 12 Years a Slave. His most recent films are Armageddon Time and Amsterdam.
Yang served as co-creator and showrunner of Master of None alongside Ansari, winning an Emmy for his writing. His most recent credits include co-creating and show-running the Apple TV+ series Loot starring Maya Rudolph. He is represented by WME and McKuin Frankel Whitehead.
Ansari previously had another directorial Being Mortal in production at Searchlight, however, production was suspended due to Bill Murray’s alleged inappropriate behavior.