Josh Gad to Direct, Paul Walter Hauser Will Star

Chris Farley — the legendary comedy actor behind Tommy Boy and countless Saturday Night Live performances — is getting the biopic treatment.

Emmy winner Paul Walter Hauser will star in the project that has actor-filmmaker Josh Gad attached to direct. Saturday Night Live patriarch Lorne Michaels will produce via his Broadway video banner.

The screenplay will be written by sought after duo Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber based on the New York Times best-selling biography The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts by Tom Farley Jr. and Tanner Colby.

The project, which is currently being pitched around town, has the blessing of the Farley family.

Farley rose to fame as a player on Saturday Night Live alongside castmembers Adam Sandler and David Spade, known for his energetic and physical performances. Famous for sketches that saw him play Bill Swerski’s Superfans (“da Bears!”), an overzealous motivational speaker (“living in a van down by the river!”), and am aspiring Chippendales dancer, Farley parlayed late night fame into a comedy film career that included Tommy Boy and Beverly Hills Ninja. Farley, who had a long battle with addiction, died in 1997. He was 33.

Hauser previously talked about his desire to play Farley, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he even approached the Farley family about a potential project.

The actor, who is is repped by CAA, Artists First, and Schreck Rose, broke out in features like I, Tonya and the Clint Eastwood directed Richard Jewel, and recently earned an Emmy and Golden Globe for his role on series Black Bird. Up next, Hauser will be in Pixar movie Inside Out 2 and will appear opposite Matt Damon in Apple’s The Instigators from director Doug Liman. 

Gad is the Broadway superstar from musicals like Book of Mormon and, more recently, Gutenberg!, as well as animated movie musical Frozen. His screen work includes Beauty and the Beast and Murder on the Orient Express. He is represented by CAA, Sugar 23, and Johnson Shapiro.

Neustadter and Weber, repped by UTA and Kaplan/Perrone, most recently adapted popular book Daisy Jones and the Six into the Emmy-winning Amazon series of the same name. Their feature credits include 500 Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now, and The Disaster Artist.

Farley and Colby are represented by Verve; Broadway Video is represented by CAA.