Will & Zach Political Comedy Pitch Bought

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has won the auction for the untitled pitch package for Recount’s Jay Roach to direct Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as rival candidates in a comedy timed for release in the heat of the 2012 Presidential elections. The comedy, which Deadline revealed when it reached studios Friday,  will be written by Chris Henchy, the co-writer of The Other Guys, and Shawn Harwell, best known for his work on HBO’s Eastbound & Down. The film will be produced by Ferrell and Adam McKay through their Gary Sanchez Productions banner, Roach through his Everyman Pictures banner, and Galifianakis.

The CAA-brokered sale closed on Saturday. Haven’t yet heard numbers, but in the last two pitches which the agency brokered for Gary Sanchez, Columbia Pictures essentially committed to make a movie with a full budget and fees for The Other Guys and Talladega Nights. Both were turned into hit movies. Ferrell is coming off The Other Guys and Megamind, while Galifianakis is reprising in The Hangover Part II after starring with Robert Downey Jr. for Warner Bros and Todd Phillips in Due Date and It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Galifianakis also played a scene-stealing supporting role for Roach in Dinner For Schmucks. Mosaic manages Roach, Ferrell and his Gary Sanchez cohorts while Brillstein Entertainment Partners manages Galifianakis.