Adding to a surprisingly busy day for both John Krasinski and Anna Kendrick news, John Krasinski will direct and star in The Hollars, an upcoming dysfunctional family drama, alongside Anna Kendrick. He’ll play John Hollar, a New York artist who takes his girlfriend (Kendrick) back to his small American hometown on the eve of his mother’s brain surgery. Margo Martindale will play the ailing mother, while Richard Jenkins will play the family patriarch. From there, the film takes a bit of a wacky turn, with Deadline describing it as “a blend of Steel Magnolias and Garden State,” and Krasinski and Kendrick’s characters “forced to navigate the crazy life” he left behind—complete with weird family members, odd high school pals, and an “over-eager ex” who all happen to be in town in advance of the aforementioned brain surgery.
This is Krasinski’s second time in the director’s seat. His first feature project was the 2009 adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.