The Running Man may be out of steam, but Paramount is entering uncharted waters with Glen Powell. Per Variety, Powell is producing an R-rated teen comedy for Paramount called The Fuckboat. Variety‘s reporting makes no mention of the Chad Powers star putting on a thick layer of prosthetics to pose as a pimple-faced teenager to sneak aboard the boat. Still, we could imagine him playing, perhaps, a permissive older sibling who helps his little bro procure access to said Fuckboat. As of right now, however, Powell is producing through his production company, Barnstorm. The movie is a high-concept teen comedy in the vein of Risky Business and Easy A, written by Caroline Glenn and Sean Doherty. Glenn has no screen credits to her name, but her first novel, Cruelty Free, is set to be published in February. Doherty previously worked on Conan and is currently a producer for Team Coco.
The Fuckboat continues to show Powell’s interest in making studio comedies as a part of his whole star persona. In addition to preparing the Fuckboat for the water, Barnstorm is currently developing projects with Barry Jenkins, Ron Howard, and Judd Apatow. Yet Powell’s ascent to becoming the heir apparent to Tom Cruise has been mixed at best. This fall was supposed to be his big coming out, offering the one-two punch of Chad Powers and Running Man. Neither moved the needle much, with Powers disappearing into the void of streaming shows, despite Powell sporting a big honking nose and a funny voice. Similarly, Powell’s star power did not make Running Man the must-see film of the season. However, it did allow the star to indulge his affinity for disguise once again. His next crack at leading-man immortality is A24’s How To Make Killing, which comes out in February. It’s another one of these “eat the rich” satires that never seems to be as funny as you want it to be.