Jason Reitman and Charlize Theron are in talks to direct and star in, respectively, “Young Adult,” a Diablo Cody-penned script set up at Mandate.
Mandate picked up the script in March, but the latest development marks Reitman’s first return to the director’s chair since helming “Up in the Air” and also reunites a good portion of the team behind the boxoffice and critical hit “Juno.”
The story, a dark comedy, follows a thirtysomething, divorced, young-adult fiction writer (Theron) in Minneapolis who returns to her hometown to chase the ex-boyfriend, who’s now married with a kid, that got away.
Mr. Mudd’s Lianne Halfon and Russell Smith are producing along with Mason Novick and Cody. Reitman will likely act as a producer, while Steven Rales — the principal of Indian Paintbrush, which co-created Reitman’s Right of Way production banner — may act as exec producer.
Mandate president Nathan Kahane and Mr. Mudd’s John Malkovich are exec producing.
Mr. Mudd, Mandate and Novick were producers on “Juno,” which Cody wrote and Reitman directed.
The “Adult” team is eyeing a mid-October start in New York. Financing for the movie is still being cobbled together, and the producers are hoping to set up the project at a studio.
Reitman and Theron, whose involvement was first reported on Deadline.com, are repped by WME. Theron, who last starred in “The Burning Plain,” is additionally repped by One Talent Management.
