〉 The film is a feature length remake of Eggold’s award-winning 2011 short.
Yoga Hosers star Justin Long and former How I Met Your Mother cast member Cobie Smulders are set to star in the romantic dramedy LITERALLY RIGHT BEFORE AARON from writer-director Ryan Eggold. Long and Smulders will lead a cast that also includes Peter Gallagher, Luiz Guzman, Kristen Schaal, Charlyne Yi, Ginger Gonzaga and Briga Heelan.
Based on Eggold’s award-winning 2011 short of the same name, the story centers on Adam (Long), whose ex-girlfriend tells him she’s getting married to someone else and invites him to the wedding. The story follows Adam as he navigates the painfully funny awkwardness that he now finds himself in.
The dramedy, described as “a comedy about the tragedy of what could have been,” is being produced by Cassandra Kulukundis through her Unison Films. Kulukundis, who has a long career as a casting director for films including There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice, was also a producer on Ned Benson’s 2014 innovative drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.
Eggold’s short, which starred Adam Rose and Lindsay Kraft, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the GenArt Film Festival. Eggold is perhaps best known as an actor; he currently stars in NBC’s hit drama series The Blacklist, and has previous credits that include HBO’s Entourage, CW’s 90210 reboot and the aforementioned Eleanor Rigby.
Literally is just the latest instance of a short serving as a proof-of-concept for what ultimately becomes a feature length film. Damien Chazelle recently scored a huge success with his debut feature Whiplash, which was originally shot as short, while directors from Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket) to PT Anderson (Boogie Nights) all jumpstarted their auteur careers with short films that eventually made the jump to the big screen. Eggold, similarly, could be well on his way to shifting from a career in front of the camera to one behind it.
Long recently lent his voice to Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip and Bill Burr’s Netflix series F is for Family. He’ll next be seen in Kevin Smith’s Yoga Hosers, set for release this summer.
Smulders is currently in preproduction with husband Taran Killam’s directorial debut Why We’re Killing Gunther, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and will next be seen in the Tom Cruise action flick Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
Production on Literally is expected to start in June.
Eggold is repped by Gersh and Untitled Entertainment.
Long is repped by Gersh and Abrams.
Smulders is repped by UTA and ROAR.
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Josh Lyons | Managing Editor
