Hot off his critically acclaimed performance as Johnnie Cochran in “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” Courtney B. Vance has joined the DreamWorks comedy “Office Christmas Party” along with Vanessa Bayer (“Saturday Night Live”) and Sam Richardson (“Veep”), TheWrap has learned.
Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman star alongside Kate McKinnon, T.J. Miller, Olivia Munn, Abbey Lee, Randall Park, Jamie Chung, Jillian Bell, Adrian Martinez, “Deadpool” actor Karan Soni and Tony Award nominee Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
As its title implies, the film follows an office Christmas party that gets out of hand.
Will Speck and Josh Gordon are directing from a script by Laura Solon and serving as executive producers on the project, which is being produced by Scott Stuber and Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady and Daniel Rappaport.
Paramount will release the holiday comedy on Dec. 9.
The project has been in development since 2010, and earlier drafts were written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, as well as Tim Dowling. The film is based on Casady’s original idea for a workplace comedy.
“The People v. O.J. Simpson” has proven to be a boon for Vance’s feature career, as he recently signed on to join Tom Cruise in Universal’s monster movie “The Mummy.” He’s represented by the Gersh Agency, Lighthouse Entertainment and attorney Darrell Miller of Fox Rothschild.
Richardson, who plays Richard Splett on HBO’s “Veep,” previously worked with Aniston and Bateman on “Horrible Bosses 2.” He recently appeared in Paul Feig‘s “Spy” and will soon be seen in “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.” He’s repped by Innovative Artists, Principato-Young Entertainment and Jackoway Tyerman.
Bayer recently co-starred in Judd Apatow‘s “Trainwreck” and will reunite with her “SNL” cohort McKinnon on “Office Christmas Party.” She’s repped by WME, Rise Management and Jackoway Tyerman.