Landline Pictures, a label of MRC Film, announced its next project, comedy “The Back Nine” from writer and director Michael Patrick King (“Sex And The City”) with Academy Award® winner Renée Zellweger (“Judy”) attached to star.
- Writers: Michael Patrick King, Jhoni Marchinko, and Krista Smith
- Director: Michael Patrick King
- Cast: Renée Zellweger
- Producers: Amy Baer via MRC Film’s Landline Pictures, Michael Patrick King
- Executive Producers: Renée Zellweger and Carmella Casinelli for Big Picture Co., Jhoni Marchinko and Krista Smith
- Logline: Casey Jones (Zellweger) gave up a golf career so that her husband could have one. When she wakes up one morning to find her 25 year old marriage in free fall and her son off to college, she dusts off the clubs she tossed aside years ago in an effort to finally turn pro and redefine the “back nine" of her life.
- Said Michael Patrick King: “Jhoni and Krista and I are very excited to have the amazing Renee Zellweger do our movie The Back Nine. A stunning actress with incredible range, she can make you laugh and cry and has a great golf swing. What more could anyone want?”
- Said Amy Baer: “Landline is so fortunate to launch with Back Nine anchoring our inaugural slate. It’s the PERFECT film for our mandate – star-driven, aspirational, relatable, and wildly funny. Michael and Renee are a formidable team and are going to make a classic movie for a broad audience.”
- Renée Zellweger is represented by CAA, John Carrabino Management and imPRint.
- Michael Patrick King served as executive producer, writer, and director of “Sex and the City,” for its six years on HBO as well as both movies. He has been honored by the Writers Guild, The Directors Guild, The Producers Guild, The Television Academy and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, resulting in three Golden Globe® awards for Best Comedy Series and two Emmy® awards, one for Best Comedy Series and one for Best Director. He is currently in production for HBO Max’s “And Just Like That…”
- Michael Patrick King is represented by CAA and Jackoway Tyreman.
- Jhoni Marchinko is an Emmy award winner and five-time Golden Globe nominee for her work on the critically acclaimed and groundbreaking series Will & Grace, where she served as Executive Producer and writer for six years. After Will & Grace, Marchinko, highly sought after by several studios, eventually signed multi-year deals with NBC and Warner Brothers and went on to work with HBO, Netflix, Fox and ABC. She is currently developing film and tv projects with Annapurna and Warner Brothers studios.
- Marchinko is represented by CAA and lawyer Tara S. Kole.
- Krista Smith, an accomplished writer during her tenure at Vanity Fair as Executive West Coast Editor , is an avid sports fan, hosts two Netflix podcasts, Present Company and More Like This, and runs Queue, Netflix's print journal and editorial platform.
- Smith is represented by CAA and Behr Abramson Levy.
- Founded in 2019 by Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger and writer/producer Carmella Casinelli, Big Picture Co. is currently partnered with Blumhouse/NBC on The Thing About Pam, in addition to a slate of projects under their television first look deal with MGM and several features in development.
- Landline Pictures is a label of MRC Film helmed by President Amy Baer. Landline recently announced developments including: “Jerry and Marge Go Large,” from writer Brad Copeland (“Wild Hogs,” “Arrested Development”) and director David Frankel (“Marley and Me”); “Scenic Route,” from writers Eyal Podell & Jonathan E. Stewart with Bill Holderman (“Book Club”) attached to direct; “The Best Is Yet To Come,” from director Jon Turteltaub (“Last Vegas”) and writer Allan Loeb (“Only Living Boy in New York”). MRC Film recently announced “The Mothership” starring Halle Berry, with Netflix; and most recently released the global box-office hit and Oscar® nominated film “Knives Out” from writer/director Rian Johnson and “The Lovebirds” starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae with Netflix.