Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) have signed on to direct The People Upstairs. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are writing the script, while David Permut will produce for FilmNation.
The film will be an English-language remake of 2020 Spanish feature Sentimental. The original premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival of that year, where Permut saw it and snapped up the rights.
The film revolves around a middle-aged couple who are feeling stagnant in their relationship, and invite the younger and livelier couple from the apartment upstairs for a get-together that takes an unexpected turn. The original comedy was directed by Cesc Gay, who also wrote and directed the play the film was based on.
Sentimental was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Comedy, as well as for five Goya Awards – Spain’s national film awards – upon its release.
Dayton and Faris are quite particular about their projects, with their last movie being 2017’s Battle Of The Sexes, so they likely see something very appealing in The People Upstairs. Jones and McCormack previously wrote Celeste And Jesse Forever and also worked on the story for Toy Story 4.
Permut has plenty of interesting projects in the works, including CODA director Siân Heder’s next film Being Heumann, which is in development at Apple. He’s also got the Face/Off sequel in pre-production at Paramount, as well as the new Taylor Sheridan series Bass Reeves for Paramount+, which will star David Oyelowo.
#Peace.Love.ThePeopleUpstairs
