James Ponsoldt to direct Jason Segel in thriller Sponsor for Platinum Dunes and Apple Original Films

James Ponsoldt has directed Jason Segel in eleven episodes of the Apple TV series Shrinking, which Segel also created with Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein. Now, Deadline reports that Apple is extending its working relationship with Ponsoldt and Segel by picking up the global rights to the psychological thriller Sponsor, which Ponsoldt will be directing, with Segel taking on the lead role. Ponsoldt and Segel also wrote the screenplay together.

Sponsor will see Segel taking on the role of Peter, who makes a big mistake when he gets behind the wheel after partying too hard. A terrible accident leaves him with a choice: prison or a recovery program. Convinced he doesn’t have a drinking problem, he begrudgingly shows up to his first meeting and searches for a sponsor. In walks no-nonsense, charismatic yet enigmatic Jerry. Peter is convinced Jerry is the answer to his prayers.

Coming our way from Apple Studios, the film is being produced by Platinum Dunes. The individual producers are Segel, Ponsoldt, and Platinum Dunes’ Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Alex Ginno. Before teaming up on Shrinking, where they’re both executive producers, Segel and Ponsoldt also worked together on the 2015 film The End of the Tour. Ponsoldt directed that film, which was based on David Lipsky’s 2010 memoir Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, which was about a five-day road trip Lipsky had with the author David Foster Wallace. The film starred Jason Segel as Wallace, with Jesse Eisenberg as Lipsky.

Previous Platinum Dunes productions have included the remakes and/or reboots of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, plus The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Unborn, Horsemen, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Project Almanac, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Songbird, Drop, the Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A, and the A Quiet Place franchise. They also collaborated with Blumhouse on the Purge films and Ouija films.

Does Sponsor sound like an interesting project to you? Are you a fan of Shrinking and/or The End of the Tour? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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