Aziz Ansari is officially moving on from the ill-fated “Being Mortal,” a project now all but buried, with zero signs it’ll ever see completion.
Ansari’s already shot and completed “Good Fortune,” and we now have a trailer. Lionsgate is handling distribution; the cast includes Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, and Sandra Oh. Not bad. Ansari is clearly looking to reset the narrative.
Shot in May 2023, “Good Fortune” was delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strikes only to reboot production in January 2024. This is a body-swapping comedy that seems as much influenced by “Big” as it is by other ‘80s comedies such as “Trading Places” and “Scrooged.”
The plot follows Gabriel (Reeves), a "budget guardian angel" who tries to teach a broke guy (Ansari) that money doesn’t fix everything. Naturally, he swaps the guy’s life with that of his rich, blissfully unaware boss Jeff (Rogen). But shocker: the guy loves being rich, which torpedoes the angel’s noble lesson plan and gets him demoted to Earth duty.
For those who’ve forgotten: “Being Mortal” began filming in spring 2021 but was abruptly shut down just three weeks in after Searchlight received a complaint of “inappropriate behavior” involving Bill Murray. That was the end of it. The production never restarted, and despite attempts to shop the project around — including at Cannes — no one bit. The film, half-completed, is now gathering dust, likely never to see the light of day.
So that’s where things stand. “Being Mortal” is dead. Ansari’s career, however, is still very much alive, and “Good Fortune” may just be his second act. One can only hope he brought back some of the crew who were left hanging on the last go-round.
“Good Fortune,” Rated R, is set to hit theaters on October 17, 2025.
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.