When I broke the news that Netflix had dropped Adam McKay’s “Average Height, Average Build,” it only took the filmmaker a few weeks to quickly jump into another project. This one, titled “Greenhouse,” was about climate change and supposed to star Amy Adams and Sam Rockwell, inspired by David Wallace-Wells’ bestseller “The Uninhabitable Earth.”
Yet, in a more recent interview spoke about the project for the first time, calling it “probably the greatest film I’ve written,” but admitted struggles in financing, claiming he’s having a “tough time to get a movie like this made.”
Today, we’ve learned (via THR) that McKay has set up a new film, and that it won’t be “Greenhouse.” Instead, he’s going to direct a script he’s not written, one penned by “Together” helmer Michael Shanks. Sony Pictures has picked up this untitled sci-fi comedy. No plot details just yet. No casting announced.
Shanks’ “Together” was one of the breakout successes at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where the body-horror comedy earned stellar reviews and a major acquisition deal, with Neon picking up distribution rights. He’s since shot his follow-up, “Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel,” for A24.
McKay’s last film was the 2021 Netflix satire “Don’t Look Up,” which tackled an end-of-the-world allegory and was nominated for Best Picture. Before that, he notably directed “The Big Short,” “Vice,” and “Anchorman.”
I’m pretty sure this latest untitled project will be the first time McKay hasn’t written a film he’s directed. Maybe Shanks’ involvement helped it get greenlit. Last year, Netflix scrapped McKay’s “Average Height, Average Build,” which was set to star Robert Pattinson, Robert Downey Jr., Amy Adams, Forest Whitaker, and Danielle Deadwyler. The $150M+ budget was too steep for the streamer, and other studios balked at the idea as well.
The timing of this latest update comes after this year’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” earned strong reviews but faltered at the box office.