Some movies are just going to be inextricable from the pandemic — No Time to Die for its endless delays, Mulan and Trolls World Tour for jumping the gun to VOD releases. Like any film that dodged theatrical release for home rental over the summer, Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island will always fall under that umbrella. Not content in making just one pandemic movie, Apatow’s next effort is going to lean even more explicitly into the idea.
Teaming with Netflix, Apatow’s upcoming directorial effort will be, for lack of a better term, exceedingly meta. As the official description tells it, we can expect “a comedy about a group of actors and actresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble at a hotel attempting to complete a film.” He’s set to co-write the movie with Pam Brady, the co-creator of Lady Dynamite and frequent collaborator with South Park duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
His first film for the streamer, the untitled movie about making movies during a pandemic is reportedly targeting a hefty ensemble. According to Deadline, Netflix hasn’t cast any roles yet, but anticipates “an all-star ensemble that could rival Knives Out or The Disaster Artist.” Alrighty!
Following in the footsteps of NBC’s Connecting… and the upcoming Michael Bay-produced Songbird, it’s one of the many films we’re likely to see about the pandemic while its effects are still omnipresent. I’m not sure if the Apatow film is actually in better taste than Songbird, which was maligned on impact and imagines the pandemic mutating for the next four years. Whichever film winds up with the flimsier premise, more detached from the reality of millions suffering from a generational crisis, only one stands to focus on characters with the least to lose during all of this. Anyway, hopefully it’s over by the time these see the light of day!
