7 August 2023

According to two sources, Adam McKay’s “Average Height, Average Build” has been postponed indefinitely due to both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Filming was reportedly to commence originaly in July 2023 and then pushed back to September, but now we will wait and see when this film gets back on track.

List123 and Cinemaholic

26 June 2023

According to IMDbPro, AHAB will start filming in Boston, Massachusetts on 31 July 2023 which is great news.

19 May 2023

Variety spoke to Andy McKay who confirmed that Average Height, Average Build was his next film to go into production – pending the writer’s strike of course:

“Depending on the strike (and the Directors Guild also coming to an agreement), McKay said he hopes to be in production on his serial killer comedy thriller “Average Height, Average Build” in the fall, with Robert Pattinson, Amy Adams, Robert Downey Jr., Forest Whitaker and Danielle Deadwyler attached: “That’s the next big one for me.”

9 May 2023

IMDbPro has this film’s status as pre-production and I noticed today that another actor, Dan Matteucci has been added to the cast.

1 May 2023

The Hollywood Reporter today confirmed that Netflix had bought Adam McKay’s next film “Average Height, Average Build” and it looks lile filming will commence in November 2023:

Titled Average Height, Average Build, the project is being described as part serial killer-thriller, part comedy, that follows a killer who uses political lobbyists to change laws in order to make it easier for him to kill. Like all of McKay’s recent work, the project will tackle larger sociopolitical ills — à la the 2008 housing crisis (The Big Short) and climate crisis (Don’t Look Up) — taking on crime and corruption.

…

The script calls for many more characters to be filled in.

…

 Average Height, Average Build had a hard time finding a home, with sources noting that multiple studios passed on the project for budget reasons or had issues with the dark subject matter of the film. Apple, where McKay has a first-look deal, did not jump on the project.

McKay is planning on a late-summer shoot in Boston.” [My emphasis]

25 March 2023

Look at this stellar cast. According to Deadline:

“Oscar winner Adam McKay has lined up Rob Pattinson, Amy Adams, Robert Downey Jr, Forest Whitaker and Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler to head the ensemble cast of his next directing vehicle. Titled Average Height, Average Build, the script and package is out to studios and streamers, and the intention is to get it into production by late summer or early fall.

Pattinson will play a serial killer who enlists a lobbyist (Adams) to change laws that will allow him to get away with murder more easily. Downey’s role is a retired cop who won’t give up on the murders, and the killer tries to prevent him from dogging his trail now that he’s hung up his gun. The serial killer turns himself into a cause celebre, a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington figure shielding his true motives.

Hyperobject Industries’ McKay and Kevin Messick are producing. The script has been shopped without a budget, and with that killer cast it should be set soon. McKay has been talking about making a dirty money movie since he promoted Don’t Look Up, which shined a light on global warming without making audiences feel they were being fed spinach.

The film marks a reunion for McKay and Adams, who worked together on the Oscar-nominated political satire Vice. As for Pattinson, The Batman had been weighing options after recently wrapping production on the sci-fi thriller Mickey 17, which has Bong Joon Ho directing.”

IMDbPro also updated overnight to add this project to Rob’s “Projects in Development” page with a “pre-production” status.

Guess I better go and create a film page!

24 March 2023

News dropped today that Rob is attached to an Adam McKay’s film which is a welcome bit of news. I always love hearing about Rob’s upcoming roles and let’s face it a movie about a serial killer getting into politics – well that sounds right up Rob’s alley. According to Puck

Adam McKay has been making the rounds lately with a pitch for an allegorical dramedy, and it sounds pretty interesting. The film, dubbed Average Height, Average Build, is said to be about a serial killer who gets into politics in an effort to change the laws to be more, well, murder-friendly. McKay’s got Robert Pattinson attached to lead what will likely be a starry cast, with Robert Downey, Jr. and more in the mix. Good stuff.  

But as with most McKay projects, the budget is high for a political dramedy, and despite the fact that his past three movies as a director have generated 17 total Oscar nominations, McKay hasn’t been a huge box office draw since he left studio comedies—though Don’t Look Up, starring tile-friendly Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, is Netflix’s second most-watched movie of all time, with 360 million hours viewed.

One executive who heard the pitch told me this week that he wanted to do it but then offered a version of, In this economy? The McKay project will almost certainly land, probably at a streamer (though a Netflix source told me they’re not currently bidding). But it’s the same issue we saw with the $150 million Nancy Meyers rom-com, which still hasn’t found a home and likely would have been a pretty quick yes at Netflix just a short time ago. Now, after years of offering veritable blank checks to top creators, nearly everyone is thinking twice about the bigger, riskier swings—the kind that lead to home runs yet just as often lead to strike outs. You can pick your reason: The Great Netflix Correction; the expectation that Bob Iger is about to drop Mickey’s Cost-Cutting Ax at Disney; a seemingly inevitable writers strike; franchise-mania; the fact that the L.A. weather now makes Seattle feel like South Beach. (That last one is just me.)     

I will update this post when more information comes to light.