According to Deadline Jennifer Connelly and Ben Whishaw have signed on to join the New Zealand independent comedy, Bad Behaviour. The film has been written and will be directed by Alice Englert, who will also star. The cast is rounded out with Ana Scotney, Dasha Nekrasova, Karan Gill, and Marlon Williams.
Bad Behaviour is reported to be a dark comedy that will follow Connelly as a former child actress named Lucy. While struggling with a contentious relationship with her stunt performer daughter (Englert), Lucy attends a spiritual retreat being run by a man named Elon (Whishaw).
Connelly is an Academy Award-winning actress known for films like Labyrinth, A Beautiful Mind, and Requiem for a Dream. She currently stars in the series Snowpeircer and was recently in the global smash hit film Top Gun: Maverick. Whishaw is an Emmy-winning actor best known to audiences as Q in the recent James Bond series and as the voice of Paddington Bear in the recent Paddington live-action films. Whishaw is currently starring in the AMC+ medical comedy-drama This is Going to Hurt.
Bad Behaviour will be both Englert’s feature film directorial and writing debut. Previously she has written and directed a pair of short films, one of which starred Whishaw. As an actress, Englert has appeared in films like The Power of the Dog and Beautiful Creatures as well as series like Ratched and The Serpent.
Scotney is an actress best known for the recent Netflix series God’s Favorite Idiot and the New Zealand comedy series Educators. Nekrasova recently had a breakout role as a supporting character in the third season of the critically acclaimed HBO drama Succession. Gill has had success in supporting roles in series like the drama Screw and Cobra. Williams is a New Zealand-born musician who has previously played himself in A Star is Born and had a supporting role in The True History of the Kelly Gang.
Bad Behaviour is being produced by Desray Armstrong and Molly Hallam, with Stephen Braun of Bee-Hive Productions serving as an executive producer. The film’s production will be taking place in New Zealand and will get its financing from “the New Zealand Film Commission, the New Zealand Screen Production Grant, Fulcrum Media Finance, and Bee-Hive Productions with additional support from AHI Films and Images&Sound.”
Stay tuned to Collider for any future updates on the production and release of Bad Behaviour.