EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has signed on to finance and distribute the Hannah Marks-directed father-daughter adventure dramedy Don’t Make Me Go starring John Cho (Harold & Kumar, Star Trek).
The script for Don’t Make Me Go was written by Vera Herbert (This Is Us) and originated as a spec script that landed on the 2012 Black List. Herbert will also executive produce.
Don’t Make Me Go follows a single father who takes his teenage daughter on a road trip to find her estranged mother, as he tries to teach her everything she might need to know for the rest of her life along the way.
Cho recently wrapped production on the first season of the live-action series Cowboy Bebop for Netflix. Based on the popular original Japanese animated series from 1997, Cho will star as the impossibly cool bounty hunter Spike Spiegel. He also lent his voice to the Oscar-nominated Netflix/Pearl Studio animated film Over the Moon.
The Harold & Kumar alum has broken ground and has been a trailblazer when it comes to Asian and Asian American representation in film and TV. He is not a stranger to father-daughter narratives as he starred in a different kind of father-daughter film with Aneesh Chaganty’s thriller Searching, which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination His other credits include Kogonada’s Columbus and, of course, his turn as the iconic character of Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek movie reboots. Cho is repped by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner Endlich & Gellman.
Marks is an actress, writer and director who recently helmed and penned the indie comedy Mark, Mary & Some Other People starring Hayley Law and Ben Rosenfield. The pic is set to premiere later this year. She is also attached to direct the film adaptation of Turtles All The Way Down based on the novel by John Green (The Fault In Our Stars). She made her feature co-directorial debut with the indie film, After Everything, which she also co-wrote. The film starred Maika Monroe and Jeremy Allen White and premiered In Competition at SXSW 2018 where she was nominated for their “Game Changer” award.
Her acting credits include Kris Rey’s comedy I Used To Go Here, Banana Split, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Daniel Isn’t Real, Southbound, Weeds and The Runaways. She is repped by UTA, Untitled, Circle of Confusion, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.
Herbert is a WGA Award-winning writer and three-time Emmy-nominated writer-producer, known for her work on NBC’s hit series This Is Us as well as MTV’s Awkward. Herbert has served as a co-executive producer on Rodrigo Bernardo’s rom-com Maybe A Love Story, and is currently adapting The Sight of You for New Regency. She is repped by Gersh.
Don’t Make Me Go will be produced by Donald De Line of De Line Pictures. De Line’s credits include Ready Player One, Body of Lies and The Italian Job. He also produced the upcoming series Chapelwaite, based on a Stephen King short story
The film will also be produced by Big Beach’s Peter Saraf and Leah Holzer. Saraf produced Lulu Wang’s critically acclaimed The Farewell, Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood as well as the Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine. His other credits include Jeff Nichols’ romantic drama Loving, the Amazon Original special What the Constitution Means to Me, and the series Vida and Sorry For Your Loss. Leah Holzer most recently produced Robin Wright’s Land for Focus Features as well as the aforementioned A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.