Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening are set to star in the lottery comedy Jerry and Marge Go Large, which will be made for Paramount+, the streamer announced Monday.
The film tells the remarkable true story of how retiree Jerry Selbee (Cranston) discovered a mathematical loophole in the Massachusetts lottery. With the help of his wife, Marge (Bening), Jerry won $27 million dollars, and the Selbees used the money to revive their small Michigan town.
Oscar winner David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) will direct from a script by Emmy nominee Brad Copeland (Arrested Development) that is based on a Huffington Post article by Jason Fagone. Oscar nominee Gil Netter (Life of Pi) will produce alongside Levantine Films and Amy Baer of MRC Film's Landline Pictures banner, which counts Jerry and Marge Go Large as its first production. Netter developed and packaged the project with Tory Metzger and Renee Witt from Levantine Films, which also produced Best Picture nominee Hidden Figures, and production will start next month in Georgia.
Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Cranston most recently executive produced and starred in Showtime's drama series Your Honor. He also starred in Netflix's Breaking Bad movie El Camino and appeared in Disney's hybrid movie The One and Only Ivan. Cranston and Bening make for a fun pairing and I look forward to watching them outsmart "The System" together.
Bening recently starred opposite Adam Driver in The Report, and she can currently be seen matching wits with Christoph Waltz in the two-time Oscar winner's directorial debut Georgetown. Up next is a role alongside Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer and Kenneth Branagh in the high-profile mystery movie Death on the Nile. Bening is also attached to play 64-year-old marathon swimmer Diana Nyad in an upcoming movie from the Oscar-winning filmmakers behind Free Solo.
Landline Pictures is focused on making star-driven movies for the 50+ audience that also have crossover appeal. The company's inaugural development slate includes the Renee Zellweger golfing movie The Back Nine from writer-director Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City); Scenic Route from Book Club director Bill Holderman; and The Best Is Yet To Come from director Jon Turteltaub (Last Vegas). Jerry and Marge Go Large actually sounds like the most promising project on its slate, which may be why it's the first film out of the gate for MRC's nascent label -- one I believe is poised for long-term success as the streaming wars intensify.