EXCLUSIVE: Aubrey Plaza will star in the Netflix movie Hope, directed by New Zealand duo Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami.

Hope, whose plotline is under wraps, marks the second feature to be directed by van Beek and Sami following their female-driven comedy The Breaker Upperers, which they also co-wrote and starred in. That pic, which was produced by Taika Waititi’s company Piki Films, premiered on Netflix in February. The Breaker Upperers made its world premiere at SXSW in March 2018.

Writing Hope is comedy screenwriting duo Karen McCullah & Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, who were behind such comedies as Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, The House Bunny, The Ugly Truth and She’s the Man. They will serve as EPs with Adam Wagner. Smith and McCullah are writing the Spice Girls movie for Paramount Animation and an original live-action pitch for Paramount with Todd Garner producing called Party

Smith is repped by Verve and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein with McCullah represented by Jaret Entertainment and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

Plaza will produce with Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman for Aggregate Films and Lundi Shackleton & Philippe Palacios for Les Espoirs Pictures.

Plaza recently wrapped production on the movie, Black Bear, a suspenseful meta-drama, which she is producing and starring in opposite Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon. She also finished up the last season of Noah Hawley’s Marvel series Legion on FX and starred in this summer’s Child’s Play from Orion Pictures. Plaza won a 2018 Film Independent Spirit award for Best First Feature for Ingrid Goes West, which she also starred in and produced. She is repped by CAA, MGMT Entertainment, and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham. Sami and van Beek are both repped by UTA.