Back in March, we heard that Adam McKay had lined up a very impressive cast for his next film, a black comedy (a.k.a. “comedy”) called Average Height, Average Build, but that he was also reportedly seeing some trouble finding a studio to back the project given the fact that his brand of “comedy” isn’t always hugely financially successful. They tend to be buzzy prestige plays more than anything, especially these days—which, it’s worth saying, it still pretty interesting for movies that are supposed to be funny.
So where does a filmmaker like Adam McKay go when he has a bunch of famous stars and no one willing to pay for the prestige play he wants to put them in? Why, Netflix of course (according to Deadline), which released his star-studded apocalyptic black comedy Don’t Look Up in 2021. Surely someday he’ll make another Big Short, right? (Meanwhile, real ones are just waiting for him to make anything remotely as good as Step Brothers.)
Average Height, Average Build will star Robert Pattinson as a serial killer who teams up with a lobbyist (played by Amy Adams) to try and change the law so it’ll be easier for him to get away with murder. Robert Downey Jr. will play a retired cop who is still trying to chase down Pattinson, but the whole thing somehow turns the killer into some kind of political folk hero as a commentary on… you know, political corruption and dark money and the gullibility of the American public, that sort of stuff. At the very least, it will probably be entertaining even if it’s heavy-handed. You want to see this cast, right? Forest Whitaker and Danielle Deadwyler will also be there!
The film is supposed to start shooting this summer, so it might not hit Netflix for a while.
