Ryan Reynolds will star in a family monster comedy for Universal Pictures, based on Simon Rich’s satirical short story “Everyday Parenting Tips,” published in the New Yorker. Rich will pen the screenplay himself. ‘Paddington’s Paul King will direct. Phil Lord and Chris Miller (‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’) are producing via their Lord Miller banner, along with Aditya Sood, along with Reynolds through his Maximum Effort Productions, his partner George Dewey, and Rich.
The title is rather misleading. Here is the actual synopsis of Rich’s short story (via Deadline):
A father offers advice on what to say when their child says they believe a monster lurks under the bed — at a time when an ongoing Monster Uprising is actually happening in the world. The creature pandemic has unleashed the likes of Gorgog the Annihilator, Ctharga the Eater of Souls, and a “giant, swirling portal in the sky that looks like a screaming mouth” that is simply called Drain of Ga.
Based on this description, it doesn’t appear that this film will have anything to do with Universal’s monster back catalog, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.
Rich is a former Emmy-nominated writer for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and he contributed to the script for Disney’s ‘Inside Out’. The FXX series ‘Man Seeking Woman’ was based on his novel ‘The Last Girlfriend on Earth’ and ran for three seasons. His second novel, ‘What in God’s Name’ was turned into the TBS series ‘Miracle Workers’ starring Steve Buschemi and Daniel Radcliffe. His four-part novella “Sell Out” was turned into the Seth Rogan movie ‘An American Pickle’ which debuts on HBO Max tomorrow.
King directed the critically-acclaimed ‘Paddington’ and ‘Paddington 2’, and two episodes of Netflix’s recent comedy release ‘Space Force’. He is attached to helm a new version of ‘Willy Wonka’.
Reynolds has two films that are essentially complete– ‘Free Guy’ for 20th Century Studios (above), and ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ for Summit Entertainment– but have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A third film, ‘Red Notice’ with Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot, is due on Netflix next year.
Check back for updates on ‘Everyday Parenting Tips’.
