The Dating Game, a true-life thriller, marks Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut. She is well known for her role in Pitch Perfect.
The Stranger Than Fiction Story of Cheryl Bradshaw, a bachelorette contestant on the popular 1970s television matchmaking program The Dating Game, who chose the charming and attractive bachelor number one, Rodney Alcala, is how the movie, from a Black List scenario by Ian McDonald, is billed. Bradshaw’s perfect date, however, takes a horrifying turn when Alcala reveals his true nature underneath his pleasant persona: he is a psychotic serial murderer.
In addition, Kendrick will produce The Dating Game under her Let’s Go Again banner and star as Bradshaw.
J.D. Lifshitz, Raphael Margules, Roy Lee, and Miri Yoon will also produce with Kendrick through their companies BoulderLight Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment, respectively. McDonald will also serve as executive producer.
Preproduction for the movie is now underway, and principal filming is scheduled for late October. More casting is still being done.
The Dating Game is being completely financed, co-produced, and sold internationally by Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios through its AGC International sales division. Pre-sales for the project were launched by AGC at Cannes, with UTA/CAA jointly handling domestic rights. At the Toronto Film Festival, Kendrick and Ford will give a presentation to foreign purchasers.
“I have adored this script ever since I first read it. And while I was clearly happy to be playing the role of Sheryl, I also felt so connected to the story, the tone, and the issues of intimacy and gender that I leaped at the chance to direct the movie, as Kendrick put it. “It seems meant to be,” she said.
CAA, Range Media Partners, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman are Kendrick’s agents. Anant Tamirisa, SVP of Legal & Business Affairs at AGC, negotiated the agreement on behalf of AGC, while Kendrick’s representatives were represented by CAA and Range Media Partners.