It's raining reunions, as Jon Hamm has signed on to star in the next movie from his Mad Men co-star John Slattery, which will see Hamm re-team with his former 30 Rock flame Tina Fey. Of course, Slattery also guest-starred on 30 Rock and appeared alongside Fey on Amazon's Modern Love.
Deadline reports that Slattery's new film is the dark comedy Maggie Moore(s), which follows the chief of police in a quiet Arizona town who is suddenly faced with the back-to-back murders of two women with the same name.
It's unclear whether Hamm will play the police chief or the film's villain, a local businessman eager to get rid of his wife, but I would assume the cop, since that character strikes up a flirtation with the businessman's lonely neighbor (Fey) as he investigates the bizarre crimes, and Hamm and Fey had good romantic chemistry on 30 Rock.
Then again, as well-suited as the square-jawed Hamm is for the protagonist, he also played cult leader Richard Wayne Gary Wayne on Fey's Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so you never know with him.
The Maggie Moore(s) script hails from Paul Bernbaum (Hollywoodland), and Contentious Media has agreed to finance the film, which Slattery will produce alongside Cary Woods (Scream) and Vincent Newman (We're the Millers), as well as Ross Kohn and Nancy Leopardi.
Slattery previously directed the 2014 crime drama God's Pocket starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, Richard Jenkins and Mad Men's Christina Hendricks. The film drew mixed reviews from critics, but it earned Slattery another shot behind the camera, and his latest sounds like a moderately amusing indie in the vein of Breaking News in Yuba County.
Hamm is coming off a strong comedic turn in Curb Your Enthusiasm, as well as the movie Wild Mountain Thyme, which paired him with Emily Blunt. He'll soon be seen opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. Meanwhile, Fey recently voiced one of the lead in Pixar's Soul, and she's returning to co-host the Golden Globes with Amy Poehler on Sunday night. Maggie Moore(s) is certainly shaping up to be an indie worth keeping an eye on, and that's exactly what I plan to do as production draws near.