After his debut feature, “Shithouse,” won the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s SXSW festival, Cooper Raiff is getting ready for his next endeavor, and he’s got some great company. It’s been reported that Dakota Johnson will star alongside Raiff in his next feature, “Cha Cha Real Smooth.”
READ MORE: ‘Shithouse’ Trailer: Cooper Raiff’s SXSW Award-Winning Debut Arrives Next Month
Deadline has the scoop on Cooper Raiff’s new film, “Cha Cha Real Smooth” which he wrote and is set to direct and also star in alongside Johnson. The film follows a guy whose job is to get the crowd dancing at a bar mitzvah, who strikes up a friendship with a young mother and her autistic daughter. Raiff will produce the film with Johnson and her TeaTime Pictures partner Ro Donnelly. Jessica Switch and Julia Hammer will oversee the production for Picturestart, which also financed and produced Johnson’s “Am I Ok?” which just wrapped filming this week and is also produced by Johnson. “Cha Cha Real Smooth” is slated to start production this summer.
“Shithouse” earned a lot of praise last year despite the untimely cancellation of SXSW, even though we weren’t completely sold on the film in our review from the festival. “It’s hard not to fall a little in love with Alex and Maggie as they let down their guard and open up about their college experiences,” wrote critic Matthew Monagle.
READ MORE: ‘Shithouse’: SXSW Grand Jury Winner Is A Romance That Sadly Skews One Direction [Review]
Johnson has been boosting her indie acting resume lately, with roles in the underseen “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” and “Our Friend.” She will next be seen starring in Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s “The Lost Daughter.”
The official synopsis for “Cha Cha Real Smooth” is as follows (via Deadline):
“In the film, Raiff takes a job as a bar mitzvah party starter — a guy who gets the young crowd dancing and having fun — while he separately strikes up a friendship with a young mother (Johnson) and her autistic daughter.”
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