{"id":622287,"date":"2026-09-12T09:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/622287\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T09:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T09:08:17","slug":"courteney-cox-chose-to-direct-evil-genius-after-beverly-hills-run-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/622287\/","title":{"rendered":"Courteney Cox Chose to Direct \u2018Evil Genius\u2019 After Beverly Hills Run-In"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFans may have the Beverly Hills Hotel<\/a> to thank for Courteney Cox<\/a>\u2019s newest project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Friends alum revealed that she was approached about directing Evil Genius, her first feature film as a director in 12 years, after accidentally running into Barbara Schroeder, who directed the Netflix documentary of the same name, at the iconic hotel in Beverly Hills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was at the Beverly Hills Hotel sitting at the counter; my favorite spot in the corner. I saw [Schroeder], and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, I love Evil Genius. You did such a great job,\u2019\u201d Cox said at The Hollywood Reporter\u2019s Studio at 1 Hotel during TIFF<\/a>, presented by sponsor Canada Goose. \u201cShe said, \u2018It\u2019s available to direct.\u2019 She goes, \u2018You should run with it.\u2019 We had a good relationship before. \u2026 I made a lot of deals there [at the Beverly Hills Hotel], and made a lot of money there. It\u2019s just interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCox jokingly added that those deals were always \u201cat the counter\u201d: \u201cI can\u2019t get inside the poker room.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCox\u2019s chance encounter sparked the idea to direct, but it took years to get Evil Genius off the ground. The Scream star told THR that the film was in development for \u201ceight years\u201d through the COVID-19 lockdown and the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes before going into production in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite facing significant obstacles, Cox \u201ccouldn\u2019t let [the story] go because I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, which stars Patricia Arquette, David Harbour, Michael Chernus, Garret Dillahunt and Danielle Macdonald, follows the true crime story of the 2003 \u201cpizza bomber\u201d case that resulted in the death of Brian Wells.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe got these two amazing actors,\u201d Cox said, referencing Arquette and Harbour, who also visited THR\u2019s studio on Friday. \u201cI knew there was a story beneath the headlines that was really emotional and touching and terrifying and all of the things, and I\u2019ve got the best actors to play the parts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCox was joined by her daughter, Coco, and Arquette\u2019s daughter, Harlow, who both have small parts in the film. The Shining Vale actor told THR that Coco loves to perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCoco, she\u2019s got a little scene in the movie, and Harlow, Patricia\u2019s daughter, is young Marge,\u201d Cox said. \u201cCoco\u2019s really sweet, too. \u2026 Coco loves acting so much that she was so happy to be there. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe\u2019s been studying since she was so little, and doing shows and plays,\u201d Arquette added of Coco. \u201cShe\u2019s the only one\u2026 well, her and David, who did a lot of musical theater, and all of this. She just finished her first other movie. So, it\u2019s very exciting. They\u2019re fifth-generation actresses, our little daughters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEvil Genius premieres at TIFF on Saturday, Sept. 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans may have the Beverly Hills Hotel to thank for Courteney Cox\u2019s newest project.\u00a0 The Friends alum revealed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[264206,321,22095,93,61,60,1745,233943,237826,276],"class_list":["post-622287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-beverly-hills-hotel","tag-celebrities","tag-courteney-cox","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tiff","tag-tiff-2026","tag-toronto-2026","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}