The Big Sick's Michael Showalter is directing a new holiday comedy with Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain

By William Hughes | March 23, 2018 | 10:47pm

Aux Features Film

Fresh off his Oscar-nominated 2017 hit The Big Sick, director Michael Showalter has lined up his next project: a yet-to-be-titled holiday comedy reuniting The Help’s Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer. Set during the holiday season, the film will see the women “fighting the elements to make it home for Christmas,” a premise that makes it sound a little like a modern, gender-flipped take on Planes, Trains, And Automobiles. (Which, given the level of talent involved here, sounds pretty good to us.)

Still probably best known for his work on sketch-adjacent stuff like The State, Stella, and Wet Hot American Summer, Showalter has spent the last decade carving out a creatively profitable niche for himself as a director, as well. His other credits include the 2015 Sally Field vehicle Hello, My Name Is Doris, as well asthe 2005 rom-com parody The Baxter. His TV work, meanwhile, includes Love and Grace & Frankie, both on Netflix, and an occasional stint (both directing and acting) on Search Party, on TBS.