Tiffany Haddish & Billy Crystal Team For Comedy ‘Here Today’: TIFF

Tiffany Haddish and Billy Crystal will star together in the Astute Films’ comedy Here Today, a project that the latter Saturday Night Live alum will co-write and direct.

Here Today is billed as a May/September romantic comedy – but without the romance. Crystal plays veteran comedy writer Charlie Berns, who is slowly but surely losing his grip on reality. He befriends a talented young New York street singer Emma Paige played by Haddish and they form an unlikely, touching friendship that defies the generation gap aside and redefines the meaning of love and trust.

Here Today marks Crystal’s eighth time directing and his third on a feature film following Mr. Saturday Night and Forget Paris, in which he also starred. Crystal directed the HBO film 61*, starring Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane in 2001 which earned him an Emmy and Director’s Guild Nomination as Best Director for a film made for television.

Crystal adpated the screenplay with his fellow Saturday Night Live alum, Emmy-winning writer Alan Zweibel from the latter’s short story The Prize. Production begins in October in New York. Zweibel published his original short story “The Prize” in his eBook From the Bottom Drawer of: Alan Zweibel in 2011. Here Today reps the second collaboration between Crystal and Zweibel, following the Tony Award winning and Emmy nominated HBO special Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays in 2014.

Astute Films’ President Fred Bernstein is producing with Crystal, Haddish, Zweibel and Dominique Telson. Executive Producers are Rick Jackson, Claudine Marrotte & Samantha Sprecher. Here Today is an Astute Films production in association with Crystal’s Face Productions and Big Head Productions. Rocket Science is handling international sales during TIFF. CAA is handling US rights.

“I’m so grateful to get the chance to bring this charming and beautiful story to life,” said Crystal. “To write this with Alan was a joy, and to have Tiffany as my co-star is fantastic. The generational differences in our comedy will be great to play with. She’s explosively funny and genuinely human at the same time. Excited to explore all our possibilities together.”

“Billy and Tiffany share an incredible ability to bring warmth and intelligence to their humor,” said Bernstein. “Astute is thrilled to bring such iconic comedic talents together onto one screen. Their timeless humor will bring genuine laughter to a film that will resonate with audiences worldwide, and bridge the gaps among all age groups.”

Crystal’s feature credits are numerous including When Harry Met Sally…, City Slickers, The Princess Bride, Analyze This and Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University. Following the $140.6M box office success of Girls Trip, Haddish has starred in such pics as Night School, Nobody’s Fool, The Lego Movie 2, The Kitchen and the voice of Daisy in this past summer’s The Secret Life of Pets 2. Her most recent stand-up special, which she hosted and executive produced, Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready can be seen on Netflix. She will next be seen as host of the ABC television series Kids Say the Darndest Things and will return for season three of the TBS comedy series The Last O.G.

Crystal is repped by CAA, David Steinberg Entertainment and Sol Rosenthal. Haddish is repped by UTA, Artists First, and Ziffren. Zweibel is repped by Paradigm.