Pickleball fever
Red Hour Films and Rivulet Films will team up for the upcoming pickleball comedy, The Dink. Josh Greenbaum (the upcoming Spaceballs sequel for MGM, Will & Harper) will direct the original screenplay from Sean Clements (Workaholics). Apple Original Films has released the trailer for the comedy, which stars Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, Ben Stiller, Patton Oswalt, Chloe Fineman, Chris Parnell, Aaron Chen, and Andy Roddick. You can get a look at the trailer in the embed above and the film is due to start streaming on Apple TV starting on July 24.
Dink, dink, dink
The official synopsis for The Dink reads,
“Washed up former tennis prodigy Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson) has been reduced to coaching unruly children at his father Chuck’s (Ed Harris) suburban country club. Desperate for his father’s approval, Dusty blindly supports Chuck’s vendetta against the new craze taking over the club: pickleball. But when Dusty reaggravates an old injury, taking away his ability to play tennis, he resorts to the unthinkable in the name of rehab. He not only tries pickleball, but, thanks in part to his enchanting new partner, Candace (Mary Steenburgen), he finds himself actually enjoying it. Torn between two worlds, Dusty is forced to finally face the ghosts of his past athletic failures, including his childhood nemesis, Andy Roddick (Andy Roddick). Ultimately, Dusty is drawn into a desperate battle for the future of the club, his father’s affection and his very identity. “The Dink” is a laugh-out-loud underdog story from producer Ben Stiller (“Dodgeball”), directed by Josh Greenbaum (“Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”) from a script written by Sean Clements (“Workaholics”). The all-star cast includes Patton Oswalt, Chloe Fineman, Chris Parnell and Aaron Chen, with Andy Roddick and Ben Stiller.”
Stiller and the producers
John Lesher and Ben Stiller are producing through their Red Hour Films banner alongside Rivulet’s Rob Paris and Mike Witherill. Jake Johnson also serves (no pun intended) as a producer. Stiller and Rivulet’s most recent collaboration, Nutcrackers, which was directed by David Gordon Green, opened the Toronto International Film Festival where it sold for eight figures to Hulu in a competitive situation. Rivulet also fully financed this production and the company’s senior strategic advisor Rick Steele is on board as Executive Producer alongside Sean Clements, Josh Greenbaum, Joe Hardesty, Jonathan McCoy and Daniel Crosser.
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