Michael Showalter To Direct Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain Comedy

The Big Sick's Michael Showalter has found his next project. Variety reports that Showalter has signed on to direct Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain's untitled holiday comedy, which Universal won the rights to in a bidding war in January.

Plot details for the movie are being kept under wraps, but it is said to be in the vein of the 1987 hit Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. That film featured Steve Martin and John Candy as two polar opposites who end up having to work together to try to make it home in time for Christmas. The movie is based on a treatment from Chastain and The Nanny Diaries' Kelly Carmichael, with Now You See Me 2's Peter Chiarelli writing the script.

Chastain and Spencer previously appeared together in The Help, which netted Chastain an Oscar nomination and Spencer an Oscar win. Chastain also holds an Oscar nomination for her work in Zero Dark Thirty, as well as Golden Globe nominations for The Help, Zero Dark Thirty, A Most Violent Year, Miss Sloane, and Molly's Game. Spencer, meanwhile, also holds Oscar nominations for Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water. She has Golden Globe nominations for Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water and a win for The Help.

Showalter is known for creating the Netflix original series Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, both based on the 2001 film, which he wrote. As a director, he has worked on the Sally Field film Hello, My Name is Doris, as well as episodes of Grace and Frankie, Love, and Search Party.

Chastain is set to produce the movie through her company Freckle Films. Carmichael, Celine Rattray (The Kids Are All Right), and Trudie Styler (The Next Three Days) also produce. The movie does not have a release date yet.