Here’s a fun Cinematrix-style quiz for you all: What do Emma Stone, Emily Blunt, and Annette Bening have in common? Have you taken a minute to think it through? Here’s the answer: Not only were they all nominated for Academy Awards in 2024, but they could belong to the semi-exclusive club of actors directed by their spouses.
Stone is currently in talks with Universal Pictures to star in an untitled project directed by her husband, Dave McCary. (If you’re wondering, Blunt was directed by her husband, John Krasinski, in his A Quiet Place films, and Bening was directed by Warren Beatty in 2016's Rules Don’t Apply.) Details about the film and its plot are still under wraps as of this writing, but Deadline reports that it’s based on a script from Patrick Kang and Michael Levin (Young Rock), and will be produced by Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Dan Levine, and Michael H. Weber. Ali Herting, Stone, and McCary are also in talks to produce.
This would be the sophomore film from McCary, who married Stone in 2020. His first film, Brigsby Bear (2017), tells the story of a man (Kyle Mooney) rescued from the bunker he’s been forced to live in since he was a baby, who, upon his release, tries to finish the storyline of a show called Brigsby Bear that his captor invented. (From the trailer, it looks a bit like a mix of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Room.) McCary also served as a director on Saturday Night Live for four seasons.
In 2020, Stone and McCary started a production company called Fruit Tree, which has so far released films like this year’s Problemista and upcoming I Saw The TV Glow, as well as 2023 series The Curse (which Stone also starred in) for Showtime. From this selection, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume the upcoming film will be cutting, funny, and probably a little trippy. (It also means the two already know how to work with each other in one realm, which is a good sign for this potential partnership as well.)
Stone already has a lot on her plate. She’s currently working on Cruella 2 for Disney and an upcoming Ari Aster film titled Eddington. Kinds Of Kindness, her third collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos (after Poor Things and The Favourite), was also just announced as part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup.