South Park co-creator Trey Parker has signed on to direct the previously announced live-action comedy he’s working on with Matt Stone, with whom he created the acclaimed animated sitcom. The duo will be working with Kendrick Lamar and his longtime manager, Dave Free, who are serving as producers on the currently untitled film via their pgLang company, Above the Line is reporting.
Parker and Stone revealed in January 2022 that they would be producing the movie with Lamar and Free. At the time, a helmer was not yet attached to the project, which led to Parker stepping into the role in the year since the comedy’s initial announcement.
Parker is an accomplished director, having helmed the 1993 film Cannibal! The Musical!, 1997’s Orgazmo and 2004’s Team America: World Police. He also directed the various South Park movies and television specials, including 1999’s theatrically released South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
The premise for the upcoming live-action comedy, which was penned by South Park writer-producer-voice actor Vernon Chatma, has been revealed: A young Black man who is interning as a slave reenactor at a living history museum discovers that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his ancestors.
“On behalf of Paramount Pictures and the wider ViacomCBS family, we look forward to ushering in the first theatrical collaboration from these creative visionaries, and galvanizing audiences worldwide around a powerful storytelling experience,” Paramount Pictures president and CEO Brian Robbins said about the film last year.
Paramount will distribute the upcoming movies in theaters. Paramount Plus, meanwhile, has secured the comedy’s streaming rights.
Production on the film was originally set to begin in spring last year, but Parker’s commitments to South Park reportedly pushed the schedule back. The movie’s production is now reportedly scheduled to begin later this spring.
