Ty Burrell and Yara Shahidi have joined the cast of Jim Field Smith’s Black List favorite “Butter,” which Jennifer Garner and Kate Hudson are currently attached to star in.
The film, which has been noted as sharing similarities to the 2008 Democratic primary elections, follows the story of Burrell’s reigning butter sculpting champion who stands down and sees his wife attempt to take his mantle, only for a young African-American girl (Shahidi) to stand in her way. To further emphasize the “Obama vs. Clinton” analogy, Hudson will play the subject of Burrell’s extra-marital affairs.
Burrell takes up the role previously linked to Jim Carrey and adds to his burgeoning upcoming slate which includes 2010’s “Morning Glory” and “Fair Game.” Shahidi, meanwhile, won the “Butter” role over Will Smith’s daughter, Willow, and follows up from her role as Eddie Murphy’s daughter in “Imagine That.”
It’s not known if any of the script’s similarities to recent political events were purposeful but scribe Jason Micallef did intend the story as a political satire noting that he was “looking for some venue that people take very seriously but is also ridiculous, like politics, but at the same time is really visual.”
Production on the Weinstein Company project should begin imminently.