'Frozen River' Director Boards Reese Witherspoon Comedy 'Rule #1'

Courtney Hunt, who garnered a best screenplay Oscar nomination for Frozen River, has come aboard to direct Rule #1, a comedy that has Reese Witherspoon attached to star.

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Randall Emmett and George Furla of Emmett/Furla Films will produce and finance the project. Brad Epstein of Panther Films is also producing as is Witherspoon and her Type A Films banner.

Rule #1 tells the story of a 34 -year old woman trying to cope with OCD, who takes in a young woman with ADD and her newborn baby in an effort to face her anxieties and ultimately get her estranged husband back. The resulting effort takes the woman’s already chaotic world spinning into the next level.

Terrel Seltzer (One Fine Day) wrote the script for Rule #1, which was initially set up at Fox Searchlight in 2009 before being put into turnaround. 

Courtney, repped by WME, made her feature directorial debut with 2008’s Frozen River which, in addition to her Oscar nom, saw star Melissa Leo receive a nomination for best actress.  Since then, Courtney has directed episodes of In Treatment and Law & Order: SVU.

Emmett/Furla is in pre-production on Broken City starring Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones and currently shooting Frozen Ground, a crime thriller starring John Cusack and Nicolas Cage, in Alaska. The company recently announced a new $250 million film fund with Envision Entertainment to finance a new slate of high-end, star-driven commercial feature films.