Good Fortune | |
---|---|
Directed by | Aziz Ansari |
Written by | Aziz Ansari |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Adam Newport-Berra |
Edited by | Daniel Haworth |
Music by | Carter Burwell |
Production company | Oh Brudder Productions |
Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
Release date |
|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Good Fortune is an upcoming American comedy film written and directed by Aziz Ansari, in his feature film directorial debut. Keanu Reeves stars alongside Ansari, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer and Sandra Oh. It is produced by Ansari's company Oh Brudder Productions. It follows an angel named Gabriel (Reeves), whose failed attempt to show a struggling man (Ansari) that money doesn't solve one's problems—by body swapping him with his wealthy employer Jeff (Rogen)—results in Gabriel losing his wings, while the work he did as an angel begins to unravel around them.
After the suspension of his original directorial debut Being Mortal at Searchlight Pictures in 2022, Ansari moved forward with plans to direct Good Fortune. He desired to make a comedy film with the intent for it to be theatrically released, citing the success of Barbie (2023) as proof of the viability of such a project. Ansari's longtime friend Rogen, who inspired the implementation of several elements into the film, joined alongside Reeves in April 2023, when the film was set to begin principal photography in May. Following a production shutdown in the middle of the month due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, filming started in late January 2024 in Los Angeles, when Palmer joined the cast. The majority of filming wrapped before April 2024, with some scenes picked up at a later date after an injury Reeves sustained two weeks into filming had healed.
Good Fortune is scheduled to be released in the United States on October 17, 2025.
Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is a "budget guardian angel". [1] One day, he notices a man down on his luck (Aziz Ansari), who does odd jobs for a wealthy socialite named Jeff (Seth Rogen). Once the man falls asleep in a booth at a Denny's restaurant, he hits rock-bottom after subsequently having his car towed from their parking lot. Intervening in his plight, Gabriel tries to convince the man that being wealthy like Jeff would not solve his problems by swapping the two men's lives. Failing at this demonstration as the man's problems are solved by Jeff's wealth, Gabriel loses his wings and is sent down to Earth to live among humans, while the man takes over Jeff's body and livelihood. [2] Gabriel then becomes roommates with the displaced Jeff, [1] as the work he did as an angel begins to unravel around them. [2]
Stephen McKinley Henderson has a supporting role. [5]
After the suspension of his first directorial project Being Mortal at Searchlight Pictures in 2022 due to star Bill Murray's alleged inappropriate behavior, Aziz Ansari moved forward with his next planned production, Good Fortune. [6] [4] [1] Ansari had been doing dramatic work, and wished to make a comedy to be theatrically released. Ansari believed in the viability of such a film, and cited the success of Barbie (2023) as an example. [2] Ansari expressed a desire to "write about things that everyone is dealing with that no one is talking about", and felt that struggling in life was a perfect example of this. [2] Ansari conducted research for the film, including interviewing gig workers to inform him what their way of life is like. [2]
Following negotiations with Dan Freedman, Phil Strina, John Biondo, and Matt Leonetti, the project was acquired by Lionsgate Films. [6] It was officially announced in April 2023 to be produced by Anthony Katagas, Alan Yang, and Ansari, with Ansari also acting as writer, director and co-star. [6] Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen were revealed to be starring, with filming set to begin in May. [7] Ansari and Rogen had been longtime friends and were looking to partner for a film. Rogen inspired the implementation of several ideas in the script, such as a sauna and a cold plunge. [2] Aniz Adam Ansari, Jonathan McCoy, Christopher Woodrow, and Connor DiGregorio are executive producers, [8] while Brady Fujikawa and Jon Humphrey oversaw the production for Lionsgate. [4]
Principal photography was expected to start on May 16, 2023, in Los Angeles, [9] [10] but was delayed indefinitely due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. [11] [12] In November 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported the production was aiming to restart in early 2024. [13] On January 25, 2024, Keke Palmer revealed in an Instagram post that filming with Ansari, Rogen, and Reeves had begun. [14] [15] Other sources further confirmed her casting. [16] [3] Filming with Reeves hooked into a rig atop a roof with a stunt double in Los Angeles occurred in February. [17]
Two weeks into shooting, [18] photos of Reeves on set with crutches and an ice pack on his left knee circulated online. [19] [15] At the time, it was unclear if the medical aids were worn for his role or for the treatment of an actual injury. [15] The viral images prompted some websites to report uncertainty surrounding the actor's health. [20] [21] Days later, Reeves was seen standing on set without assistance. [22] In an interview during his panel for the film at the 2024 CinemaCon in April, Ansari addressed the media attention, noting that the hashtag #GetWellSoonKeanu had trended in response to the photos. [2] He clarified that Reeves had fractured his knee during filming, noting the actor had tripped on a rug while inside his trailer. He said that Reeves continued to shoot the majority of the rest of the film despite his injury. [2] Reeves later clarified on an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that he fell while he was shuffling quickly out of a cold plunge, and that he "spiked" his knee on the ground after catching his foot, cracking his patella "like a potato chip". [23]
The majority of filming wrapped by the time that Reeves's subsequent project, Outcome began principal photography on March 20, [24] with Ansari noting that only scenes for a salsa dancing sequence with Reeves were left to shoot. Reeves had wanted to shoot the scenes anyway, but Ansari and the rest of the production insisted on a delay until the actor's knee healed. [18] On April 5, it was reported that Sandra Oh had joined the cast. [4]
Carter Burwell was hired to compose the score by August 2024. [25]
Aziz Ansari attended the 2024 CinemaCon to promote the film for Lionsgate Films, revealing his creative processes and plot details for the project, and showed attendees a closed-doors look at a trailer for the film. [2] /Film's Ryan Scott likened the body-swapping element showcased to " Trading Places (1983) by way of Scrooged (1988)". [1] Writing for Deadline Hollywood , Anthony D'Alessandro and Nancy Tartaglione observed, "It looks hysterical and received a ton of laughs". [26]
Good Fortune is scheduled to be released theatrically by Lionsgate Films in the United States on October 17, 2025. [11] [8]
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor and musician. He is the recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him as the fourth-greatest actor of the 21st century, and in 2022 Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Reeves is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public image, and his philanthropic efforts.
Constantine is a 2005 American superhero horror film directed by Francis Lawrence in his directorial debut. Written by Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello from a story by Brodbin, it is loosely based on the DC Comics/Vertigo Comics Hellblazer graphic novels. The film stars Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, a cynical exorcist with the ability to perceive and communicate with half-angels and half-demons in their true forms and to travel between Earth and Hell. Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Djimon Hounsou, Gavin Rossdale, and Peter Stormare also feature.
Seth Aaron Rogen is a Canadian actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series Freaks and Geeks in 1999, and got a part on Apatow's sitcom Undeclared in 2001, which also hired him as a writer. Rogen landed a job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show (2004), for which the writing team was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. Apatow subsequently guided him toward a film career.
Aziz Ismail Ansari is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series Parks and Recreation (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series Master of None (2015–2021) for which he won several acting and writing awards, including two Emmys and a Golden Globe, which was the first award received by an Asian American actor for acting on television.
Alan Michael Yang is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He was a writer and producer for the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which he received his first Emmy nomination. With Aziz Ansari, Yang co-created the Netflix series Master of None, which premiered in 2015 to critical acclaim. The series was awarded a Peabody Award, and at the 68th Emmy Awards in 2016, Yang and Ansari won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Master of None and became the first writers of Asian descent to win in the category, which was also nominated in the Outstanding Comedy Series category. Yang also was the screenwriter of the 2014 comedy Date and Switch. In 2018, Yang co-created the Amazon Video series Forever.
The following is the filmography of Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker Seth Rogen.
Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor who has appeared in films, television series and video games. He made his film debut in the short One Step Away in 1985. The following year, Reeves appeared in the crime film River's Edge, and the television films Babes in Toyland, Act of Vengeance, and Brotherhood of Justice. His first lead role was as a teenager dealing with his best friend's suicide in the 1988 drama Permanent Record. His breakthrough role came when he played time-travelling slacker Ted "Theodore" Logan in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) with Alex Winter, which was an unexpected commercial success. Reeves followed this with a supporting role in Ron Howard's comedy Parenthood. In 1991 he starred in the action film Point Break with Patrick Swayze, the science fiction comedy sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and the independent drama My Own Private Idaho.
Point Grey (PGP) is a Canadian-American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The company is named after Point Grey Secondary School in Vancouver, where they met.
Anthony Katagas is an American film producer. He is an alumnus of Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he majored in government and was captain of the lacrosse team as a goalie. He also represented Greece at the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship.
John Wick: Chapter 2 is a 2017 American neo-noir action-thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad. The film is a sequel to John Wick (2014) and the second installment in the John Wick franchise. The film stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, with a supporting cast of Common, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ruby Rose, Lance Reddick, Peter Stormare, Bridget Moynahan, Franco Nero, John Leguizamo, and Ian McShane. In the film, retired hitman John Wick is forced back into his old life to fulfill a blood oath to crime lord Santino D'Antonio (Scamarcio).
John Wick is an American neo-noir action film series and media franchise created by Derek Kolstad. It centers on the titular character portrayed by actor Keanu Reeves. Wick is a legendary hitman who is reluctantly drawn back into the criminal underworld after retiring. The franchise began with the release of John Wick in 2014, followed by three sequels: Chapter 2 in 2017, Chapter 3 – Parabellum in 2019, and Chapter 4 in 2023.
Monkeypaw Productions is an American independent film and television production company founded by Jordan Peele in 2012. It is known for producing horror films, such as Get Out, Us, Candyman, Nope, and Wendell & Wild, as well as other films, such as Keanu and Monkey Man.
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is a 2019 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski from a screenplay by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams, based on a story by Kolstad. The film is the sequel to John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) and the third installment in the John Wick franchise. It stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, and Ian McShane. The film centers on John Wick going on the run from a legion of hitmen after a bounty is placed for his murder.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is a 2023 American neo-noir action thriller film directed and co-produced by Chad Stahelski and written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. It is the sequel to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and the fourth installment in the John Wick franchise, the film stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, alongside Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, and Ian McShane. In the film, John Wick sets out for revenge on the High Table and those who left him for dead.
Mattson Tomlin is an American filmmaker and writer.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is an upcoming American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Len Wiseman and written by Shay Hatten. It is the fifth film in the John Wick franchise, serving as a spin-off set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. It stars Ana de Armas in the lead role, alongside Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Norman Reedus in supporting roles. Anjelica Huston, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, and Keanu Reeves reprise their roles from the previous films.
Being Mortal is a suspended American comedy-drama film written, directed, produced by, and starring Aziz Ansari in what was set to be his feature directorial debut. It is based on the 2014 non-fiction book Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. Bill Murray, Seth Rogen, and Keke Palmer were set to co-star.
Outcome is an upcoming American black comedy film directed and co-produced by Jonah Hill, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ezra Woods. It stars Keanu Reeves, Hill, Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer, Susan Lucci, David Spade, Laverne Cox, Kaia Gerber, Roy Wood Jr. and Atsuko Okatsuka.