Rosamund Pike & Chris O’Dowd To Star In Nick Hornby Comedy Series

Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike and Bridesmaids star Chris O’Dowd are set to star in a Stephen Frears-directed comedy series for SundanceTV.

The pair are to front the short-form comedy series State of the Union, which will be a series of ten-by-ten minute episodes, to be produced by The King’s Speech producer See-Saw Films and written by High Fidelity author Nick Hornby.

State of the Union follows Louise and Tom, played by Pike and O’Dowd, who meet in a pub immediately before their weekly marital therapy session. Each episode pieces together how their lives were, what drew them together, and what has started to pull them apart.

Shooting will commence later this summer in London with Hornby and Frears exec producing alongside Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman. Kristin Jones, EVP of international programming for AMC and SundanceTV, is the executive in charge for SundanceTV, with Amy Jackson producing. Endeavor Content is handling international sales.

Hornby said, “I am so pleased to be working again with Stephen, Rosamund and Chris. I first met Stephen when he directed High Fidelity, Rosamund when she revealed her wonderful comic talent in An Education, and Chris when he made the forthcoming Juliet, Naked, and I think they will make a tremendous team. State of the Union is an unusual project, so it’s all the more gratifying that we have managed to attract talent of this magnitude.”

“Sundance is thrilled to partner with our good friends at See-Saw Films on this short form original production,” added Jan Diedrichsen, General Manager, SundanceTV and Sundance Now. “We are fortunate to have a dream team in front of and behind the camera to bring to life Nick’s intimate, entertaining and relatable story of a modern marriage to life.”

Frears is represented by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, with ICM Partners in the U.S, Hornby is represented by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, Pike is represented by United Agents in the UK as well as Magnolia Entertainment and CAA in the U.S. and O’Dowd is represented by Gordon and French in the UK as well as WME and 3 Arts in the U.S.