UPDATED: Deadline are reporting that McKay, along with Robert Pattinson and Robert Downey Jr, has added Amy Adams, Forest Whitaker, and “Till” star Danielle Deadwyler to his cast.
EARLIER: “RRR” superfan Adam McKay is allegedly pitching an allegorical dramedy to studios, according to Puck’s Matt Belloni.
The film, titled “Average Height, Average Build”, is said to be about a serial killer who gets into politics to change the laws to be more friendly to murderers.
McKay is mentioning that Robert Pattinson and Robert Downey, Jr. want to star. The budget is said to be very high for the political satire, which has some studios balking at the idea of funding it.
One executive who heard the pitch told me this week that he wanted to do it but then offered a version of, In this economy? The McKay project will almost certainly land, probably at a streamer (though a Netflix source told me they’re not currently bidding).
Despite his last three films having been showered with Oscar love (“The Big Short,” “Vice” and “Don’t Look Up”) this latest McKay still constitutes a risk for any studio to embark on. It doesn’t sound audience-friendly, which is why we’re utterly fascinated by the premise.
“Don’t Look Up”, which had Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence fighting an asteroid, was Netflix’s second most-watched movie of all time, with 360 million hours viewed.
McKay was one of the originators of the frat comedy movement in the early aughts with “Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights,” “Step Brothers,” and “The Other Guys,” before deciding to go the more serious route with his last three films.
If I were a betting man, I’d say either Apple or Amazon will nab “Average Height, Average Build.”