Universal Pictures will distribute the next directorial feature from “Booksmart” director Olivia Wilde, the raunchy holiday comedy “Naughty.”
The film will be produced by Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara’s production company LuckyChap with “Cocaine Bear” scribe Jimmy Warden penning the screenplay based on his spec script.
Wilde and Warden will serve as producers on the project alongside Robbie, Ackerley and McNamara.
The film tells the story of Mallory, a single mother who needs to get custody of her son and decides to make that happen by finding Santa Claus and convincing him to testify during her divorce hearing. The film is akin to features like “Bridesmaids,” “Young Adult” and “Bad Santa.”
Audiences have been eager to find out what type of project Wilde will do next after her breakout directorial debut, the 2019 teen comedy “Booksmart,” and her 2022 follow-up, the infamously divisive “Don’t Worry, Darling.” That film found itself maligned more for personal disputes behind the scenes than what the finished product looked like. Prior to this Wilde was attached back in April to a limited series adaptation of Jennifer Egan’s book “Welcome to the Goon Squad” and its sequel “The Candy House” in collaboration with A24.
Robbie’s LuckyChap is coming off a fabulous year, with the one-two punch of the cultural juggernaut “Barbie” and the twisted “Saltburn,” the follow-up feature by Emerald Fennell. Both are big awards contenders, with “Barbie” nabbing 18 Critics Choice Award nominations on Wednesday.
“Naughty” is also a follow-up for screenwriter Warden, whose feature “Cocaine Bear” was a fun 1980s throwback in January of this year. The film was a very loose adaptation of a true-life crime story that occurred in the forests of America in 1985 when a 175-pound American black bear was found dead in northern Georgia having overdosed on cocaine.
Warden made his feature directorial debut with the forthcoming film “Borderline” from the 2020 Black List script which he also wrote with Lucky Chap, Red A and Brian Duffield producing.
