Karen Gillan & Zoë Chao To Topline MRC Comedy ‘Let’s Have Kids!’ From Adam Sztykiel

EXCLUSIVE: Karen Gillan (Guardians of the Galaxy franchise) and Zoë Chao (Nightbitch) will lead the cast of Let’s Have Kids!, a feature comedy from MRC that’s heading into production this week.

Marking the directorial debut of Black Adam and Due Date scribe Adam Sztykiel, pic’s ensemble also includes Sam Richardson (The Afterparty) Max Greenfield (The Neighborhood), K.J. Apa (Riverdale), Ed Begley Jr. (Young Sheldon) and Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (Nightmare Alley).

Let’s Have Kids! tells the story of lifelong best friends Emma and Phoebe, who decide to try to have their first babies at the same time so they can navigate the Great Unknown of motherhood together, but find their friendship is deeply tested when only one of them gets pregnant. Sztykiel and Ellie Knaus wrote the script and will also produce alongside Becky Sloviter (Palm Springs) — the recently appointed President of Miramax Motion Picture Group, who’s on board via production company A Dare to Be Great Situation.

Perhaps best known for her role as Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Gillan will next be seen in Lisa Steen’s coming-of-age drama Late Bloomers, a SXSW title that Vertical will distribute. Other upcoming projects include Steven Moffat’s cancel culture dramedy series Douglas Is Cancelled for ITV, in which she stars opposite Hugh Bonneville, and Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck.

Recent credits for Chao include Peacock’s sci-fi rom-com If You Were the Last opposite Anthony Mackie, the Netflix rom-com Your Place or Mine opposite Reese Witherspoon, Starz’s reboot of cult comedy Party Down and Apple TV+’s acclaimed murder mystery comedy The Afterparty. Upcoming, she’ll be seen in Marielle Heller’s dark comedy Nightbitch opposite Amy Adams and James Gunn’s animated series Creature Commandos.

Select screenwriting credits for Sztykiel include Netflix’s comedy Family Switch, Warner Bros’ Black Adam and Robert Downey Jr. comedy Due Date, and Columbia Pictures’ Made of Honor. Additionally, he created the sitcom Undateable, which ran for three seasons on NBC.

Gillan is represented by UTA, Maison Two, Linden Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Chao by CAA, Entertainment 360 and Schreck Rose Dapello; Richardson by UTA, Artists First, and Jackoway Austen; Greenfield by UTA, Untitled Entertainment, and Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett & Kole; Apa by UTA, Luber Roklin Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen; Begley by Innovative Artists and Constellation Media Group; Steenburgen by UTA, Entertainment 360, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer; Sztykiel by UTA, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead; and Knaus by Kaplan/Perrone and UTA.