{"id":1021422,"date":"2026-08-24T17:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1021422\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T17:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:44:15","slug":"mike-birbiglia-directing-old-friends-new-friends-for-focus-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1021422\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Birbiglia Directing ‘Old Friends New Friends’ For Focus Features"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE:<\/strong>\u00a0Earlier this month, Mike Birbiglia<\/a> announced that he\u2019d be canceling a select set of stand-up dates alongside John Mulaney, with a \u201cdream project\u201d coming to fruition. And now, we can tell you what that project is.<\/p>\n

\n\tFocus Features<\/a> has greenlighted\u00a0Old Friends New Friends<\/a>, a comedy marking Birbiglia\u2019s first feature effort in a decade. He\u2019s eyeing a fall start, with Lucas Hedges<\/a> (Manchester by the Sea), Patrick Schwarzenegger<\/a> (Beach Read), Geraldine Viswanathan<\/a> (Thunderbolts) and Dylan Gelula<\/a> (Dream Scenario) set to star.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe logline: When a tight-knit group of college friends travels to a summer camp for their old friend\u2019s wedding, they discover he\u2019s built a new life \u2014 with new friends \u2014 forcing them to confront what they\u2019ve lost, who they\u2019ve become, and whether growing up means growing apart.<\/p>\n

\n\tBirbiglia will direct from his own script and produce alongside Jacob Jaffke (X\u00a0trilogy,\u00a0Dream Scenario) and Joe Hartwick (Maze Runner\u00a0franchise,\u00a0Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) for Oddball Entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\tBirbiglia broke out as a filmmaker with\u00a0Sleepwalk with Me, a semi-autobiographical 2012 dramedy about a struggling stand-up comic whose severe sleepwalking \u2014 and fear of marriage \u2014 threaten his relationship and career. Growing out of his one-man stage show of the same name, the film won the Best of NEXT Audience Award in its world premiere at Sundance before going on to distribution through IFC Films. Birbiglia\u2019s sophomore feature was\u00a0Don\u2019t Think Twice, an ensemble comedy revolving around jealousy within a tight-knit New York improv troupe when one member lands a career-making TV gig. Starring Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard, that critically acclaimed SXSW dramedy released in 2016.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn Emmy nominee, Birbiglia has performed his award-winning solo shows worldwide \u2014 from the Sydney Opera House to the West End of London to Broadway. All six of his solo shows \u2014\u00a0Sleepwalk with Me,\u00a0My Girlfriend\u2019s Boyfriend,\u00a0Thank God For Jokes,\u00a0The New One,\u00a0The Old Man & The Pool\u00a0and\u00a0The Good Life\u00a0\u2014 have enjoyed successful runs on and off Broadway before expanding their audiences on Netflix. Performing stand-up since his time at Georgetown University in the late \u201990s, the comedic multi-hyphenate is repped by UTA and Schreck Rose Dapello.<\/p>\n

\n\tAn Oscar nominee known for films like\u00a0Manchester by the Sea,\u00a0Lady Bird\u00a0and\u00a0Boy Erased, Hedges\u2019 upcoming slate also includes Michael Cera\u2019s debut feature,\u00a0Love Is Not the Answer. He is repped by Untitled Entertainment and Brecheen Feldman Breimer.<\/p>\n

\n\tBreaking out with a turn in the third season of HBO\u2019s\u00a0The White Lotus, Schwarzenegger will next be seen starring opposite\u00a0Margaret Qualley in the romantic drama\u00a0Love of Your Life\u00a0from Amazon MGM, which releases this fall after premiering at TIFF. He\u2019s part of the cast of the Florian Zeller thriller\u00a0Bunker, premiering in Venice, and will next year be seen starring opposite Phoebe Dynevor in 20th\u2019s rom-com\u00a0Beach Read, based on the bestseller by Yulin Kuang. He is repped by UTA, Entertainment 360 and Patrick Knapp at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.<\/p>\n

\n\tKnown for films like\u00a0Blockers\u00a0and Marvel\u2019s\u00a0Thunderbolts*, Viswanathan will next be seen starring alongside Amy Poehler in her Peacock series\u00a0Dig. She is repped by WME, Entertainment 360, Mollison Keightley Management and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.<\/p>\n

\n\tGelula\u2019s film credits include\u00a0Shithouse,\u00a0I Want You Back,\u00a0Dream Scenario\u00a0and\u00a0Smile 2, to name a few. Also known for major roles in shows like\u00a0Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt\u00a0and\u00a0Everything\u2019s Fine, she is repped by Mosaic, Gersh and Michael Auerbach at Jackoway Austen Tyerman.<\/p>\n

\n\tOddball Entertainment is repped by CAA and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman. The deal was brokered by UTA Independent Film Group on behalf of the filmmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE:\u00a0Earlier this month, Mike Birbiglia announced that he\u2019d be canceling a select set of stand-up dates alongside John…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1021423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,408714,171,42316,58526,204336,207803,408715,45130,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1021422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-dylan-gelula","tag-entertainment","tag-focus-features","tag-geraldine-viswanathan","tag-lucas-hedges","tag-mike-birbiglia","tag-old-friends-new-friends","tag-patrick-schwarzenegger","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117151732281400483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1021423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}