It looks like it’s bad luck for Aziz Ansari‘s “Good Fortune.” THR reports that the current WGA writers’ strike has forced Lionsgate and Ansari to indefinitely suspend filming on the project. Lionsgate made the decision last night after picketers interrupted filming in LA’s Koreatown two days in a row earlier this week, on May 16 and 17. There’s hope work on “Good Fortune” will start again, but if the WGA strike lasts through the summer, this may be another lost project for Ansari.
Ansari was set to star in “Good Fortune” with Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves along with having the project be his directorial debut. He also pens the film’s script, but Ansari wasn’t writing additional material on the film, as per the WGA strike rules.
If “Good Fortune” falls apart, it’ll be the second time Ansari’s planned directorial debut gets shut down in a row. Ansari’s previous film project for Searchlight, “Being Mortal,” got canned after a complaint about Bill Murray‘s behavior on-set prompted an investigation. Rogen was also set to star in “Being Mortal,” along with Keke Palmer. Searchlight confirmed they scrapped the film in February this year.
This is a serious spate of bad luck, or bad karma, for Ansari, who’s still trying to mount a complete comeback after sexual misconduct allegations derailed his career in 2018. Ansari initially rose to stardom on the NBC comedy “Parks And Rec” before creating “Master Of None” over at Netflix. That show won Emmys, boosting Ansari’s star power even more. But now it looks like Ansari may never indeed make a feature directorial debut.
So will “Good Fortune” meet the same poor fate as “Being Mortal”? Only time will tell. But if this WGA strike lasts throughout the summer, “Good Fortune” and several other projects may get scuttled permanently.