Five years after the success of Let's Be Cops, Luke Greenfield is stepping behind the camera again to direct the comedy Half-Brothers for Focus Features, Collider has exclusively learned.
One of Mexico's biggest stars, Luis Gerardo Mendez, is in talks to star in the film, which follows two half-brothers who are put to the test when they're sent on a wild goose chase to uncover their dying father's mysteries.
Eduardo Cisneros (Instructions Not Included), Jason Shuman and Greenfield co-wrote the script, and the three of them will produce alongside Jason Benoit. Production is slated to start this July in New Mexico.
Greenfield is coming off the global success of the Jake Johnson-Damon Wayans Jr. comedy Let's Be Cops, which grossed $138 million worldwide on a budget of just $17 million. The film was a sleeper hit in the summer of 2014 and one of 20th Century Fox's most profitable releases that year. The director is perhaps best known for his heartfelt 2004 comedy The Girl Next Door, which may be his lowest-grossing film, but is considered a cult classic by many, including yours truly.
In fact, in the interest of full disclosure, it was my love of The Girl Next Door that led me to Los Angeles, as I spent the two summers before and after my senior year of college working for Greenfield as an intern at his production company Wide Awake. This was back when Greenfield was developing Role Models, the hit Universal comedy he wound up producing alongside Scott Stuber and Mary Parent. Coincidentally, Shuman served as an executive producer on that project.
Greenfield made his directorial debut with the Rob Schneider comedy The Animal, a Happy Madison production he landed on the strength of his short film The Right Hook, which I've shown to just about anyone with 13 minutes to spare. His other credits include the 2011 rom-com Something Borrowed and the CW series Aliens in America starring Adhir Kalyan. The filmmaker has several projects in development around town, including Destiny at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners and The Holiday Club at Fox. He's represented by Verve.
Mendez is a major star in Mexico who recently wrapped his first English-language production -- the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston comedy Murder Mystery, which will debut on Netflix next month. He also co-stars alongside Kristen Stewart in Elizabeth Banks' reboot of Charlie's Angels, which Sony will release in November. Mendez is repped by Paradigm and Goodmanagement.
Shuman is repped by CAA and Fourth Wall Management, while Cisneros is repped by Valor Entertainment and Ziffren Brittenham. The duo recently teamed on the indie drama The Obituary of Tunde Johnson starring Steven Silver from 13 Reasons Why.
