EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has set a deal for two feature starring vehicles for Reese Witherspoon, her first with the streaming service. Her Hello Sunshine has teamed with Aggregate Films’ Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan to produce Your Place Or Mine, a romantic comedy that will mark the feature directorial debut of Aline Brosh McKenna, whose script credits include The Devil Wears Prada and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Netflix has also acquired for Witherspoon the Sarah Haywood bestselling novel The Cactus, which will be fashioned as a second star vehicle which Hello Sunshine’s Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter to produce.
Your Place Or Mine focuses on two long-distance best friends who change each other’s lives when she decides to pursue a lifelong dream and he volunteers to keep an eye on her teenage son. The film will be produced by Hello Sunshine’s Witherspoon and Neustadter and Aggregate’s Bateman and Costigan, and McKenna under her Lean Machine banner. She wrote the screenplay. Aggregate has its first look at Netflix, where Bateman stars in, directs and exec produces Ozark, which completed its third season (Netflix disclosed to shareholders the series drew 29 million viewers in the first four weeks).
Witherspoon has produced and starred in projects for Apple (The Morning Show), Hulu (Little Fires Everywhere) and HBO (Big Little Lies), and now she’s joined Netflix.
“We have been looking for the right feature opportunities to collaborate with Ted Sarandos, Scott Stuber and the entire team at Netflix for a while and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with them on these two romantic comedies,” Witherspoon said. “Both Sarah Haywood’s and Aline Brosh McKenna’s stories blend everything we love about traditional RomComs with strong, smart and determined female leads.
In The Cactus, an unexpected pregnancy at 45 causes a reserved woman to rethink the structured life she has created for herself and leads her on an unconventional journey toward love, family and learning to embrace the unexpected. The book was published on May 7, 2019 by Park Row.
Said Aggregate’s Costigan: “Jason and I are thrilled to be producing Aline’s feature directorial debut with our great friends and partners at Netflix, and with a giant talent and friend like Reese and Hello Sunshine. This is the perfect home for our movie, and with the ideal creative partners to be making a sophisticated and very contemporary romantic comedy that we believe global audiences will be excited to see.”
Said Head of Netflix Films’ Scott Stuber: “We are thrilled to work alongside our long-standing partners and friends, Jason and Michael at Aggregate on Your Place or Mine. They brought us this brilliantly funny romantic comedy from Aline that we immediately fell in love with and can’t wait to work with the Aggregate and Hello Sunshine teams on bringing it to life. Reese and her team at Hello Sunshine have made a tremendous mark on the industry and we’re excited to have found two terrific projects to collaborate with them on.”
“I’m the hugest Reese Witherspoon fan on earth, not just of her immense talents as an actor but also her producing skills,” said Brosh McKenna. “I couldn’t be more excited to direct this movie for Netflix, working alongside Aggregate and Hello Sunshine.”
Witherspoon is repped by CAA, LBI and attorney Gretchen Rush; Bateman by CAA, Lighthouse Mgmt & Tom Hoberman; Brosh McKenna by attorney Ken Richman.