EXCLUSIVE: Annapurna Pictures is stepping to the plate for That’s What I’m Talking About, Richard Linklater‘s follow-up to the time-lapse drama sensation Boyhood. Paramount will release the film in North America, while Annapurna International will sell the foreign rights. The picture is a fastball away from starting production, and Linklater is quickly filling out the lineup card for this ensemble comedy. It’s not surprising that Annapurna’s Megan Ellison would spark to the film, as she backs so many strong filmmakers.
Deadline revealed that the casting was underway several weeks ago, and more lead roles have been filled. The pic stars Blake Jenner as an incoming freshman experiencing his first weekend in college as a pitcher on the school’s nationally ranked baseball team.
He finds himself among a hard-partying group of baseball players. The setting is 1980, and the guys step into the freedom and responsibility of unsupervised adulthood. The film also stars Teen Wolf‘s Tyler Hoechlin, 22 Jump Street and This Is 40‘s Wyatt Russell, Ryan Guzman, Zoey Deutch (Good Kids), A Teacher‘s Will Brittain, and Glen Powell, who is coming off The Expendables 3 and just wrapped Ride Along 2.
The film isn’t a baseball pic, per se; Linklater considers it a closer cousin to his 1993 film Dazed And Confused. Ellison is joining the producer roster, along with Dazed and Confused‘s Sean Daniel, Linklater, his longtime editor Sandra Adair, John Sloss and Ginger Sledge.
Paramount adds another quality film to its release slate, this deal coming after its Toronto acquisition of world rights to the Chris Rock-directed Top Five, and the Cannes prebuy of the Denis Villenueve-directed sci-fi film Story Of Your Life.
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