Jake Gyllenhaal and Kevin Costner to Star in ‘Honeymoon with Harry’

The project has been in development hell for two decades and has reemerged at Amazon MGM Studios with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa in the director’s chair.

(Left) Kevin Costner for 'Horizon: An American Saga' at CinemaCon 2024. Photo: Warner Bros. (Right) Jake Gyllenhaal arrives on the red carpet of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Credit/Provider: Mark Von Holden / A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.

Preview:

Jake Gyllenhaal and Kevin Costner are to lead ‘Honeymoon with Harry’.
‘Crazy, Stupid, Love.’ duo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa will direct.
Amazon MGM Studios is backing the latest version.

There are movies that spend a little bit of time floating around development limbo before eventually being picked up and pushed into production.

Then, we have concepts like ‘Honeymoon with Harry’, which has been waiting for its moment for so long, it could legally drink were it human.

Now Amazon MGM Studios has announced that ‘Road House’ star Jake Gyllenhaal and ‘Yellowstone’ veteran Kevin Costner are aboard the latest attempt to make it a reality.

Overseeing this one? ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’. directing duo Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who will work from a script by regular collaborator (and powerhouse 'This is Us' TV showrunner) Dan Fogelman.

Related Story: Kevin Costner Starring in and Co-Writing Surf Horror pic ‘Headhunters’

What’s the story of ‘Honeymoon with Harry’?

Jake Gyllenhaal arrives on the red carpet of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Credit/Provider: Mark Von Holden / A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.

The plot for this one has its roots in a novel by Bart Baker, which follows a man (Gyllenhaal) as he decides to go on a honeymoon with his would-be father-in-law (Costner) after his fiancée dies unexpectedly two days before their wedding.

Though the two men dislike each other, they find common ground in their shared grief.

But enough about the story. It’s the history of the project that’s interesting: this one has been in the works since 2004, when Baker’s novel was still unpublished (it finally saw shelves in 2012).

Producer Mike Karz first set up ‘Honeymoon’ at New Line Cinema 21 years ago, and the project attracted top name talent through the years, but nothing came to fruition. ‘Crash’ filmmaker Paul Haggis wrote a draft and was going to direct a version that had Vince Vaughn and Jack Nicholson circling.

Jonathan Demme also flirted with it when it had a script by Jenny Lumet, the writer of ‘Rachel Getting Married’ and, more recently, co-creator of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’.

Fogelman first came on board to write it in 2015, when New Line had Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro as the intended leads. And in 2017, Nick Cassavetes was attached to direct.

Finally, Karz has moved it to Amazon MGM Studios, which has attached its ‘Road House’ star Gyllenhaal and Costner, who has been ploughing much of his time, energy and no small amount of money into his epic ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Western movies.

When will ‘Honeymoon with Harry’ be on screens?

While this project has seemingly been cursed with bad luck, its fortunes may finally be changing. Amazon has yet to announce a release date, though, so we’ll have to wait and see if this one finally makes it to either theaters or streaming.

Kevin Costner as Hayes Ellison in New Line Cinema's Western drama 'Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter One', a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Richard Foreman. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.