Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell are reuniting to star in a series adaptation of the Wondery and Bloomberg Media podcast “The Shrink Next Door,” Variety has learned. The series is in development at Media Rights Capital (MRC) Television with no network or streaming service currently attached.
Inspired by true events, “The Shrink Next Door” is described as a dark comedy following the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf (Rudd) and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz (Ferrell). Over the course of their relationship, Ike slowly takes over Marty’s life, even moving into Marty’s home and taking over his family business.
Should the project move forward, it would mark Ferrell and Rudd’s first onscreen collaboration since “Anchorman 2” in 2013, which was of course a sequel to the seminal 2004 comedy “Anchorman.” Both men will also executive produce “The Shrink Next Door” in addition to starring.
Georgia Pritchett will write and executive produce. She is currently a writer and co-executive producer on the Emmy-winning HBO series “Succession” and previously worked on the critically-acclaimed HBO comedy “Veep.” Michael Showalter is attached to direct and executive produce under his Semi-Formal Productions banner with the company’s Jordana Mollick also executive producing. Ferrell will executive produce for Gloria Sanchez along with Jessica Elbaum and Brittney Segal. Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of Wondery will also executive produce, as will Jared Sandberg, Katie Boyce, and Francesca Levy for Bloomberg Media. Joe Nocera is co-executive producer. “The Shrink Next Door” is a Civic Center Media project in association with MRC Television.
Rudd recently starred in the well-received Netflix series “Living with Yourself” as well as the Netflix shows “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” and “Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later,” which saw him work with Showalter. On the film side, Rudd currently appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ant-Man. As that character, he has appeared in two standalone films as well as “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
He is repped by UTA, Lighthouse Management, and Jackoway Tyerman.
In addition to leading both “Anchorman” films, Ferrell is known for his starring roles in hit comedies like “Elf,” “Step Brothers,” and “Talladega Nights.” On the TV side, he was a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” for seven seasons and has returned to host the show on multiple occasions. His most recent film, “Downhill” with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, is currently in theaters. He will next be seen in the Netflix film “Eurovision” opposite Rachel McAdams in May.
He is repped by UTA, Mosaic, and Jackoway Tyerman.
This is the second big TV project MRC has set up this month. Variety previously reported that the company was developing a drama based on the book “The Terminal List” with Chris Pratt attached to star and Antoine Fuqua on board to direct.
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