Charlie Day, Jenny Slate, and Gina Rodriguez have signed on to lead romantic comedy I Want You Back, which hails from This Is Us showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger and is in the works at Amazon. Jason Orley, who last year helmed the underseen but really good Big Time Adolescence, will direct.
I Want You Back follows Emma and Peter, who each thought they were on the precipice of life’s supposed biggest moments – marriage, kids, etc. – until their respective partners dumped them. With no prospects on the horizon and the nagging existential threat that they will end up alone, they hatch a desperate plan to put an end to their exes’ new relationships and win them back.
Aptaker and Burger previously wrote coming-of-age romcom Love, Simon, so they’ve got experience in the genre. They will write the screenplay and also produce on behalf of The Walk-Up Company alongside Peter Safran and John Rickard of The Safran Company.
“We are beyond thrilled to be in business with Jen and her team at Amazon Studios to make a fresh romantic comedy full of heart”, they said in a statement. Amazon’s Jennifer Salke added:
“It’s a dream to be able to bring Isaac and Elizabeth’s brilliantly authentic vision to the world! It will surely capture the hearts of our Prime Video customers. We couldn’t be more excited to see this amazing ensemble come aboard this fun and witty story that audiences will fall in love with”.
Orley added: “I immediately fell in love with Isaac and Elizabeth’s funny, heartfelt script, and I am so honored that they, along with the amazing team at Amazon are allowing me to bring their timeless love story to life, and that I get to do it with such an incredible group of actors”.
This has the potential to be a lot of fun. Day is best known for his work on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, but it will be great to see him in a different role as a romantic lead. Slate has done lots of guest appearances on TV but also put in great work as the lead in Gillian Robespierre‘s two great indie comedies Obvious Child and Landline.
Rodriguez just got done co-starring in Miranda July‘s excellent Kajillionaire, while also voicing Velma in Scoob! She’ll next be seen in Netflix’s sci-fi action thriller Awake. Aptaker and Berger are also working on an adaptation of Meg Wolitzer‘s novel The Female Persuasion for Amazon, which has Nicole Kidman attached to star.
#Peace.Love.IWantYouBack
