Remember that still unmade $150 million Nancy Meyers Rom-Com from Warner Bros?
Set to be Meyers' first film in over ten years, it had been originally set up at Netflix, but both parties could not come to an agreement on the budget. Meyers wanted $150 million, Netflix stood its ground at $130 million.
Then David Sazlav’s Warner Bros came to the rescue and greeted Meyers with open arms. They agreed to finance the film, which has the working title “Paris Paramount.” Then we heard that Meyers’ rom-com had reportedly been delayed indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts.
In an interview with TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, Meyers is now saying that her new film is still a possibility at WB with Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, and Michael Fassbender (no mention of Scarlett Johansson).
Could it still happen at Warner Bros? I hope so. The cast has all been lovely, “we’re here for you,” but we’ll see if we can make it work.
Her big stipulation — and one reason for the big budget cost — is that she will only shoot in Los Angeles. At 74, she’s done leaving home for 4-6 months to shoot a movie:
I only want to shoot in L.A. As you know, most movies shoot out of town because it’s too expensive to shoot here. My deal was that I stay here during production […] I had actually retired before this, and then Netflix came to me and asked if I’d want to make a movie for them. I didn’t want the stress of the job and I didn’t want to leave town […] we made a deal that I don’t leave town.
The film had Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Michael Fassbender and Owen Wilson rumored to star. It was set to become the most expensive romantic-comedy of all time. Don’t ask why Meyers needed that much money, nobody could figure it out, but we gathered at least half of it was going to go to the stars’ salaries. I don’t believe shooting in L.A. is the sole reason to blame for the $150 million budget.
The project is semi-autobiographical as it parallels Meyers’ own life. She and fellow writer-producer Charles Shyer had a longtime romantic and professional pairing, working on films such as “Private Benjamin”, “Baby Boom”, “The Parent Trap” and “Father of the Bride”.
Meyers was a very hot commodity in the early aughts with a crowd-pleasing formula that resulted in “What Women Want,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” “The Holiday,” “It’s Complicated” and “The Intern.”