Me and Earl and the Dying Girl scribe Jesse Andrews (of both the novel and the screenplay) has just announced his next project, of which he will both write and direct. With Bill Hader now locked in as the lead, Empress of Serenity, which is inspired by David Foster Wallace’s A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, appears to have great potential.
According to Deadline, Andrews’ script is an edgy comedy following an animal rights lawyer who, while grieving his mother’s death, finds unlikely friendship after he’s coerced by his estranged father to go on a 45-day cruise.
Empress of Serenity will mark Andrews’ directorial debut. The film will be produced by Stephen Chbosky, along with Mr. Mudd’s Lianne Halfon, Russell Smith and John Malkovich. Per The Wrap, The group previously collaborated on The Perks of Being a Wallflower, of which — like Andrews with Serenity — Chbosky penned both the novel and the script.
Hader has had an interesting career since his run on Saturday Night Live. The comedian first starred in the heartfelt dramedy The Skeleton Twins, followed by David Wain’s They Came Together. More recently he appeared in the Judd Apatow-directed Amy Schumer vehicle Trainwreck and voiced a character in Pixar’s Inside Out. 2016 will see him voicing for The Angry Birds Movie and the Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg-scripted animated comedy Sausage Party as well as appearing as the Giant in Steven Spielberg’s The BFG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=qXJL6jGfZhg
Originally published November 20, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
