Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, Gina Rodriguez and Scott Eastwood are set to star in Amazon's romantic comedy I Want You Back, which hails from This Is Us showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger.
Jason Orley (Big Time Adolescence) is directing the film, which follows Emma (Slate) and Peter (Day), who thought they were on the precipice of life’s biggest moments -- marriage, kids, and houses in the suburbs -- until their respective partners dumped them. Not only that, but they've already moved on, too. With no prospects on the horizon and the threat of dying alone hanging over their heads, Emma and Peter hatch a desperate plan to put an end to their exes’ new relationships and win them back.
Manny Jacinto (The Good Place) and Clark Backo (Letterkenny) will co-star alongside Jami Gertz, Jordan Carlos, Midori Francis, Mason Gooding, Isabel May and Luke David Blumm.
Love, Simon scribes Aptaker and Berger co-wrote the script and they'll also produce on behalf of The Walk-Up Company alongside Peter Safran and John Rickard of The Safran Company. Day will executive produce with Adam Londy and Bart Lipton, and production is slated to start early next month in Atlanta.
“It’s a dream to be able to bring Isaac and Elizabeth’s brilliantly authentic vision to the world! It will surely capture the hearts of our Prime Video customers,” Amazon's Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to see this amazing ensemble come aboard this fun and witty story that audiences will fall in love with.”
"I immediately fell in love with Isaac and Elizabeth’s funny, heartfelt script, and I am so honored that they, along with the amazing team at Amazon are allowing me to bring their timeless love story to life, and that I get to do it with such an incredible group of actors," added Orley.
"We are beyond thrilled to be in business with Jen and her team at Amazon Studios to make a fresh romantic comedy full of heart,” said Aptaker and Berger. “Alongside our partners at The Safran Company, we have assembled a phenomenally talented cast of comedy all-stars and have the wonderful Jason Orley at the helm to tell this story of passion, heartbreak, and the lengths people will go to in the name of true love.”
I liked Orley's first feature Big Time Adolescence, which starred Pete Davidson and marked a promising debut for the director after his script was voted to the 2014 Black List. Orley also directed Davidson's stand-up special on Netflix and worked as a writer on Epix's political satire Graves. He has sold and developed TV pilots at Hulu, TNT and CBS, and he has written feature screenplays for Universal, Paramount and Fox Searchlight.
Aptaker and Berger are Emmy-nominated writers and producers who are currently working on an adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s novel The Female Persuasion for Amazon, with Nicole Kidman attached to star. In addition to serving as co-showrunners and executive producers on NBC's hit drama series This Is Us, the duo also created and executive produce the Hulu series Love, Victor, which is in production on its second season.
As much as I love watching Day on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it'll be nice to see him as a romantic lead for a change, and I'm curious to see if Rodriguez is the ex he's chasing. He and Eastwood have the Pacific Rim franchise in common, and I wonder if Slate (who proved her rom-com chops in Obvious Child) will be chasing after Eastwood in this film, having dated another stud -- Chris Evans -- in real life. I guess we'll find out soon enough...