Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals, The Shape of Water), Oscar nominee Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, Bride Wars), Golden Globe winner Don Johnson (Miami Vice, Knives Out), and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Dolemite Is My Name, High Fidelity) are set to star in the comedy Shriver from director Michael Maren (A Short History of Decay), according to Deadline.
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In the film, a small college, desperate to make a splash in the literary world, thinks they have found Shriver, a famous writer who has been in hiding for 20 years. Unfortunately, the person they have located is a different Shriver, a down-on-his-luck handyman who has never read a book in his life and has trouble telling the difference between his imagination and reality. With nothing to lose, this Shriver accepts the invitation to attend the college’s literary festival. There he finds himself surrounded by adoring fans, an eccentric group of writers and wannabe writers, and meets a professor of English who captures his heart. But things come crashing down when the “real” writer shows up to expose him, posing a threat to the college and the reputation of the English professor.
Written by Maren and based on the novel by Chris Belden, the movie will also star Jimmi Simpson, Zach Braff, Mark Boone, Jr., and Aja Naomi King.
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Shriver is produced by CaliWood Pictures’ Jina Panebianco and Michael J. Reiser along with Robert Ogden Barnum and Byron Wetzel with Lucas Jarach and Josh Kesselman also producing. Executive producers include Wesley R. Sierk, III, John D. Straley, and Joseph Panebianco. Production is expected to resume “soon after the COVID-19 shutdown.”
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images & Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Michael Kors)