Ryan Reynolds At Center Of ‘Home Alone’ Revise; Augustine Frizzell To Helm R Comedy ‘Stoned Alone’
EXCLUSIVE: Fox has found an inspired way to tap back into the spirit of one of the studio’s all time grossing comedies, Home Alone. In fact, the new take sounds like a blend of that John Hughes-scripted family film, with the irreverence, hard R rating, and star of Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds is attached to produce Stoned Alone, which is in development at Fox. Augustine Frizzell is set to direct. Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider wrote the script from an idea by Fox exec Matt Reilly.
Stoned Alone is reminiscent of that hallowed comedy classic. It centers around a twenty-something weed growing loser who misses the plane for his holiday ski trip. He makes the best of things by getting high. Paranoia sets in and he believes he hears someone break into his house. Turns out thieves have broken in. Fully stoned and fueled by paranoia, he tries to thwart the thieves and defend his castle. Reynolds will produce through his Fox-based Maximum Effort production banner, with and Maximum Effort’s George Dewey executive producer.
Frizzell is a new comic voice. She directed Never Goin’ Back, which premiered at Sundance and will be released by A24, and she’s directing Euphoria for HBO. The writers scripted for Netflix the comedy that had been called Eggplant Emoji, but is now called The Package. They signed on right after Reilly pitched them.
The original Home Alone was released in holiday season, 1990. Rescued in turnaround from Warner Bros — execs fought with writer/producer John Hughes over a $2 million budget disagreement — by newly minted Fox chief Joe Roth. It grossed an out-sized $476 million, spawned two sequels, made a star of Macaulay Culkin, and it was years before Warner Bros or pretty much any major studio put a project in turnaround again, for fear of embarrassment. Chris Columbus directed the original.
Reynolds, Frizzell and the writers are repped by WME; the scribes are managed by Silver Lake Entertainment.
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