Actor/comedian and filmmaker Jonah Hill is looking to return to the director’s chair with a Hollywood-set thriller/drama titled “Outcome” that has been picked up by Apple Original Films. Hill was already able to coax “John Wick” franchise star Keanu Reeves to lead it last year, and today, Deadline adds that Cameron Diaz is now in talks to take a leading part in the Apple drama. Who Diaz will play is currently unknown, however. The actress has considerably stepped back from acting in recent years, but this film and a recent collaboration with Jamie Foxx for Netflix signals something of a return.
This new film is based on a script Hill co-wrote with first-time screenwriter Ezra Woods. “Outcome” focuses on Reeves’ character Reef, “a damaged Hollywood star who must dive into the dark depths of his past to confront his demons and make amends after he is extorted with a mysterious video clip from his past.”
Diaz took a near-decade break from acting. The 2014 remake of “Annie” was her last film until recently, singing up for Netflix’s “Back In Action” and now Hill’s “Outcome.” The former project is a Netflix action-comedy from director Seth Gordon (“Horrible Bosses”) that he’ll shoot from a script he penned with “Neighbors” scribe Brendan O’Brien. She’ll reunite with Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx, whom she previously worked on “Any Given Sunday” and the aforementioned “Annie.” Hopefully, her participation in “Outcome” means a more consistent return to acting.
Hill’s last narrative directorial effort was the skateboarding youth drama “Mid90s” from 2018, which he also wrote and was distributed by A24 Films (though he also directed the Netflix mental-health documentary and tribute to his therapist, “Stutz,” in 2022). Hill and Apple are also involved with a Grateful Dead biopic that Martin Scorsese is set to direct, with the actor playing jam band leader Jerry Garcia. There’s been no movement on that one in years, but hopefully, something changes in the next few years.