Skip to main content

Amy Poehler to direct first film, the star-studded Netflix comedy ‘Wine Country’

Amy Poehler can write and she can act, and now it is time for her to prove that she can direct, too. On Tuesday, March 20, Netflix announced that the actress is set to make her feature directorial debut with Wine Country, an upcoming comedy for the streaming service with a star-studded ensemble cast. The film’s stars include Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell, and Emily Spivey, while Tina Fey will have a role as well.

Recommended Videos

The comedy centers on a group of friends gathering in wine country for a 50th birthday weekend, and we can only assume it won’t be your average wine-tasting celebration. Netflix hasn’t revealed much so far, but the streamer did share a video of the film’s stars on Twitter. They’re gathered together in a low-key environment doing some karaoke. They look like they could be any group of friends … if those groups were composed solely of Saturday Night Live stars and writers.

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/976179141006393344

The news was met with enthusiasm on Twitter, which is understandable considering the track record the group of women. Aside from SNL, the comedians have teamed up, in different combinations, numerous times over the years. The 2015 comedy Sisters, for example, was written by Pell and it starred Poehler, Fey, and Rudolph. Meanwhile, Rudolph had Poehler, Gasteyer, and Fey as guests on her 2016 variety show, Maya & Marty.

Spivey and Liz Cackowski, yet another SNL vet, penned the Wine Country script, Variety reports. Like the others, they have worked together beyond the world of SNL. Cackowski wrote an episode of the NBC series Up All Night, which Spivey created and Rudolph starred in. Additionally, they each worked on episodes of Fox’s The Last Man on Earth.

Wine Country will be produced by Paper Kite Productions, while Carla Hacken of Paper Pictures produces alongside Morgan Sackett of Dunshire Productions. Principal photography is reportedly set to begin in late March in Los Angeles and Napa, California. Netflix’s announcement promises that the comedy will be “your new favorite movie,” so it sounds like we should all get excited.

The film does not yet have a release date.

Stephanie Topacio Long
Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…
Jurassic World Rebirth review: A fun but all-too familiar blockbuster
Jurassic World Rebirth: a sequel that brings some life back to an exhausted franchise
A man and woman hide in a field and stare curiously in "Jurassic World Rebirth."

Director Gareth Edwards (The Creator) has brought audiences back to the land of dinosaurs with his film, Jurassic World Rebirth. This standalone sequel to Jurassic World Dominion follows a team of hired operatives as they journey to an island inhabited by mutant dinosaurs, which were left behind by Jurassic World researchers, and try to gather enough dino-DNA to generate a cure for heart disease.

The Jurassic Park franchise is struggling to keep things fresh and engaging. Clearly, the filmmakers knew this fact during the production of Jurassic World Rebirth. This sequel falls short of expectations with its familiar story elements, some thin characters, and a clunky script. Nevertheless, Jurassic World Rebirth still provides some entertainment, featuring some terrific new players, exhilarating action scenes, terrifying suspense, and outstanding visuals. This movie is far from the best in the Jurassic Park saga, but it's a decent blockbuster nonetheless.

Read more
This new adventure movie will win the weekend box office. Watch the trailer here
Movie theater audience watching Dolby Cinema content.

Last weekend, F1: The Movie stood atop the box office podium, but this weekend a very different movie will steal the spotlight.

Jurassic World Rebirth is expected to rake in between $80 million and $100 million on its debut weekend in North America, according to a forecast from Boxoffice Pro. Watch the trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth at the top of this page.

Read more
Napoleon Dynamite is one of three underrated HBO Max movies to watch this weekend
Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro stand together.

The movie event of the year is now on HBO Max in Sinners. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan as twins Smoke and Stack, two outlaws who return to their Mississippi town to run a juke joint. On opening night, the twins are visited by vampires, who plan to add the entire party to their clan.

Sinners put up historic numbers at the box office, and now, audiences everywhere can stream it in the comfort of their own homes. Speaking of streaming, we picked three underrated movies to watch this holiday weekend. One of our picks is a cult classic from 2004.

Read more