Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson, Don Johnson, Da’Vine Joy Randolph to Star in Comedy ‘Shriver’

Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson, Don Johnson and Da’Vine Joy Randolph are set to star in director Michael Maren’s comedy “Shriver.” Fortitude International is selling international rights and CAA Media Finance is representing domestic rights at the Cannes Virtual Market.

Jimmi Simpson, Zach Braff, Mark Boone, Jr. and Aja Naomi King are also in the cast. Marren is directing from his own script, based on a novel of the same name by Chris Belden.

“Shriver” is set at a small college, which is desperate to make a splash in the literary world and believe they have found Shriver, a famous writer who has been in hiding for 20 years. But the person they have located is a different Shriver, a down-on-his-luck handyman who has never read a book in his life and has trouble telling the difference between his imagination and reality. With nothing to lose, this Shriver accepts the invitation to attend the college’s literary festival. But then, the “real” writer shows up to expose him.

The film is produced by CaliWood Pictures’ Jina Panebianco and Michael J. Reiser alongside Robert Ogden Barnum and Byron Wetzel with Lucas Jarach and Josh Kesselman also producing. Wesley R. Sierk, III, John D. Straley and Joseph Panebianco are executive producing.

Production on “Shriver” was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is set to resume soon, producers said Thursday.

Shannon is repped by CAA, Wetzel Entertainment Group and Morris Yorn. Hudson is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.  Johnson is repped by CAA and Edelstein, Laird & Sobel. Randolph is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency and Lighthouse Entertainment and Maren is repped by Thruline Entertainment and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.