

Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) are set to star together in the upcoming comedy The Runaround, to be directed by Gavin Wiesen (The Art of Getting By) from a screenplay by Seth W. Owen (Morgan), it was announced today by producers Spring Pictures’ Mandy Tagger Brockey and Adi Ezroni (A Late Quartet, Kelly & Cal), American Film Production’s George Voskericyan and J.M.R. Luna (Tell, Helicopter Mom), Wing and a Prayer Pictures’ Ron Perlman and Josh Crook (All I See Is You, Bone in the Throat) and P. Jennifer Dana (It Follows, Table 19).

When a globe-trotting, workaholic father (Simmons) trying to visit his daughter on a last minute layover in Los Angeles discovers that she’s disappeared, he forces her awkward, nervous ex-boyfriend (Hirsch), still nursing a broken heart, to help him find her over the course of one increasingly crazy night.

“The producers have assembled a top-notch cast including JK Simmons who is on everyone’s wish list after wowing audiences everywhere with his Oscar winning performance in ‘Whiplash,’ and the versatile Emile Hirsch on board. The script is a wildly entertaining ride from start to finish and we can’t wait to bring this film to audiences,” said Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel, co-founders and partners of The Solution Entertainment Group.

The Solution Entertainment Group is handling international rights to the comedy and will present it to buyers at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. The Gersh Agency and UTA are co-representing US rights.

Set to shoot in Los Angeles in July, the film is produced in association with Abbolita Films and Heretic Films. The financing for the film was arranged by The Gersh Agency and UTA Independent Film Group with the producers counsels: CDAS’ Marc Simon for Spring Pictures, Jonathan Gray for Wing and a Prayer Pictures and Elsa Ramo for American Film Production. Simmons is repped by The Gersh Agency, Hirsch by UTA, Wiesen by Frank Wuliger at The Gersh Agency and Owen by WME and Apostle Management’s George Heller.

(Photo Credit: Ivan Nikolov / Adriana M. Barraza / WENN.com)