EXCLUSIVE: Following her work with Netflix on its popular family films Family Leave and Yes Day, as well as The Adam Project, the sci-fi pic with Ryan Reynolds marking one of its biggest to date in terms of viewership, Jennifer Garner is back in business with the streamer after signing on to star in its holiday comedy, Mrs. Claus, sources tell Deadline.
Netflix had no comment. Details as to the plot of the film are under wraps. Leah McKendrick (Scrambled) is writing the script, with Reese Witherspoon set to produce for Hello Sunshine, which has been at work with Garner of late on the acclaimed Apple TV+ thriller series The Last Thing He Told Me.
Most recently, Garner signed on to star opposite Paul Walter Hauser in Max Winkler’s true-crime pic Fruitcake, as we were first to report. Pic tells the true story of Sandy and Kay Jenkins, a seemingly upstanding middle-class couple who went on to embezzle millions from popular Texas-based business Collin Street Bakery. Garner exec produces and stars in Apple’s The Last Thing He Told Me, which recently secured a second season order, and also recently starred in Starz’s reboot of beloved comedy Party Down. She’ll next be seen reprising her role of Elektra in Marvel Studios’s highly anticipated feature Deadpool & Wolverine, out July 26.
McKendrick is best known for writing, directing and starring in the egg-freezing dramedy Scrambled, which world premiered at last year’s SXSW Film Festival and was released by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions earlier this year. Most recently, she was tapped to script an I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel for Sony, on which we were first to report.
In addition to the second season of The Last Thing He Told Me, Hello Sunshine’s upcoming slate includes Amazon MGM Studios’ Nicholas Stoller comedy You’re Cordially Invited, starring Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, among other projects.
Garner is repped by CAA, Linden Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern; McKendrick by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, and VanderKloot Law; and Witherspoon by CAA, LBI Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
