'Upstate': Ryan Reynolds To Star In And Co-Write Netflix Comedy With John August
Ryan Reynolds is heading Upstate.
The 6 Underground star has struck up his next project with Netflix, teaming with his The Nines director John August to co-write an original feature comedy called Upstate, which is being eyed as a starring vehicle for Reynolds.
Deadline broke the news that Netflix has made a deal with Reynolds and August for the original feature comedy Upstate, which is being set up with the intention for Reynolds to star. With the project, Reynolds and August, who will co-write the movie, are reuniting for the first time since working together on 2007's The Nines, a sci-fi psychological thriller written and directed by August which starred Reynolds.
As is the case for so many of these "early in development" projects, the plot is being kept under wraps. The only thing we know is that it's an original comedy and it's called Upstate. What could that refer to? Which state? No one knows.
I haven't seen The Nines, but it was a successful collaboration between Reynolds and August, debuting to mostly positive reviews at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The psychological thriller, which is broken into three chapters centered around three men (all played by Reynolds) who try to uncover the secret about strange happenings in their overlapping lives, also starred Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, and Elle Fanning. It was an experimental sci-fi indie film that sounded like a small-budget experiment for both Reynolds and August, who seem to have taken a liking to working together at the very least.
August, who has recently come off penning Disney's live-action Aladdin remake, is best known for writing films like Go, Big Fish, Charlie's Angels, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also wrote the book series Arlo Finch and the Brett Haley-directed Grease prequel Summer Lovin' at Paramount. His filmography is full of pretty solid standard hits, with a handle on both comedy and action films, which seems right up Reynolds' alley, whose mega-hit Deadpool films marry both genres. Reynolds recently starred in the Michael Bay Netflix action flick 6 Underground and has a few other major projects in the pipeline like the Rawson Marshall Thurber-directed Red Notice, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot and is notably one of Netflix's most expensive acquisitions to date, as well as the Shawn Levy-directed action comedy Free Guy, and the sequel The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.
Reynolds and August will executive produce Upstate, with Reynolds producing through his production company Maximum Effort.