Jennifer Aniston's upcoming AppleTV+ series embroiled in drama as director drops out
Production on the Apple TV+ adaptation of Jennette McCurdy's memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died, was thrust into chaos after Oscar winning director Jason Reitman pulled out at the eleventh hour, leaving producers scrambling to find an urgent replacement.
Puck reports the Juno filmmaker was creating the pilot of the 10-part series, which is being co-produced by Australian actress Margot Robbie's company LuckyChap Entertainment.
While Reitman was never officially announced on the project, the outlet reports he ultimately bowed out after several weeks of development following clashes with McCurdy, who is a showrunner and executive producer on the show.
The former Nickelodeon star released her best-selling book in 2022, which detailed her turbulent upbringing with her overbearing mother, who was eager to push McCurdy into the spotlight.
The official log line for the upcoming series describes it as a 'heartbreaking and hilarious recounting of Jennette McCurdy's struggles as a former child actor while dealing with her overbearing, domineering mother. The dramedy will centre on the co-dependent relationship between an 18-year-old actress in a hit kids' show, and her narcissistic mother who relishes in her identity as 'a starlet's mother.''
Aniston, 56, has been cast as McCurdy's mother, Debra. She is the only name to be announced. The Friends actress is also a co-producer via her company Echo Films.
Puck further reports Reitman, along with showrunner Ari Katcher, wanted a more comedic tone than McCurdy envisioned.
Relations reportedly 'culminated in a casting call marred by a tense (one source called it 'disrespectful' to Reitman) exchange between the two', before Reitman officially left the project.
Executives at Apple TV+ have given producers a maximum of two weeks to lock in a new director with a similar pedigree to Reitman, or the project could be on halt indefinitely.
McCurdy's mother died in 2013 at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer.
The actress, who shot to fame playing Sam Puckett on iCarly in 2007, later detailed her toxic relationship being controlled by her mother, and her tumultuous time working for the children's network, revealing she suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and anxiety.
I'm Glad My Mom Died quickly shot to the top of the New York Times ' best seller list.
'I've been so touched by how much the emotional thrust of the story has connected with people, which I see as being my relationship with my mom,' McCurdy said at the time of the feat.
'That's an important and complicated relational dynamic to explore, and to see that people are responding to it has been amazing.
'And to see people responding to the humour of it and the aspect of exploring eating disorders and complicated grief, it's really been incredible.'
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