After breaking out with 2019’s The Climb , an acclaimed indie dramedy snapped up by Sony Pictures Classics after world premiering at Cannes, Michael Angelo Covino has closed to deal to direct and star in Splitsville , a new comedy for Neon and Topic Studios.
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Others in the cast will include Dakota Johnson ( Daddio ), Adria Arjona ( Hit Man ), and Covino’s fellow writer, producer and star of The Climb , Kyle Marvin, with whom he wrote the script. The project reunites Neon and Topic Studios following their work together on Infinity Pool , the sci-fi horror pic from Brandon Cronenberg, which marked Neon’s first in-house production set for theatrical release.
Splitsville picks up with Ashley (Arjona) asking for a divorce, watching as the good-natured Carey (Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Johnson) and Paul (Covino), for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.
Covino and Marvin developed the project under their multiyear first-look deal with Topic Studios, which produced The Climb . Together with Topic Studios and Neon, Covino and Marvin will produce with Emily Korteweg for their company Watch This Ready. Johnson, Ro Donnelly, and Samantha Racanelli will produce for TeaTime Pictures, with Arjona and Paul Barbeau serving as executive producers.
The film is set to shoot this fall for release next year. Neon will handle its domestic distribution, with Neon International to launch worldwide sales at next month’s Toronto Film Festival.
The relationship focus of Covino’s new film is no surprise given the story at hand in The Climb , which watches as the relationship between two friends on a biking trip is challenged when one reveals that he’s sleeping with the other’s fiancée. Based on Covino and Marvin’s 2018 short of the same name, the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes, where it won the Coup de Couer award. Covino also exec produced the sports comedy 80 for Brady , directed for Paramount by Marvin, and appears in the Western News of the World from filmmaker Paul Greengrass.
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Most recently producing and starring opposite Sean Penn Sony Pictures Classics’ Daddio , Johnson will next be seen starring alongside Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans in Celine Song’s Materialists for A24, which is in post-production.
Next to be seen in Zoe Kravitz’s buzzy directorial debut, Blink Twice , which hits theaters tomorrow, Arjona is coming off of her role opposite Glen Powell in Richard Linklater’s acclaimed Netflix pic Hit Man . Other credits include Disney+’s Andor , Father of the Bride , and Pacific Rim: Uprising .
In addition to helming 80 for Brady , Covino’s frequent collaborator Marvin can be seen in the Apple TV+ limited series WeCrashed alongside Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto.
Covino and Marvin are represented by WME, FirstGen Management, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Johnson is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Arjona by CAA, Anonymous Content, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
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