EXCLUSIVE: Tony Danza (The Good Cop) and Bex Taylor-Klaus (Deputy) have signed on to star alongside Adam Saunders in the indie comedy Re-Election, going into production in May, which Saunders will direct from his own Austin Film Festival semi-finalist script.
The project reteams Danza and Saunders following their work together on the 20th/Hulu teen comedy Darby and the Dead, which Danza starred in and Saunders produced. It tells the story of Jimmy (Saunders), a 42-year-old man-child whose life hasn’t progressed since losing the election for senior class president 25 years prior to the now current Governor of Texas. Frustrated with his circumstances, Jimmy decides to re-enroll in high school and run for class president again. But once he leaves the safe confines of his dad’s memorabilia store and attempts to join the TikTok-fueled pace of Gen Z, Jimmy quickly realizes he has a whole lot more to learn than just the proper use of gender pronouns.
Danza will play Jimmy’s co-dependent dad Stan, who has been his son’s employer for the entirety of his adult life. Stan is too easygoing for his own good, and like Jimmy, has felt his own life stagnate in the quarter century since Jimmy’s high school days. Taylor-Klaus is set for the role of Noa, a high school student who agrees to help Jimmy with his bid for re-election, mostly because, as someone who is continually bullied, Noa finds hope in the ideals proffered by the democratic process.
Producers on the project include Saunders through his Footprint Features banner (Darby and the Dead), Mac Hendrickson and Erika Hampson (Late Night).
Danza is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated screen icon best known for starring in the classic series Taxi and Who’s the Boss?, as well as such films as Angels in the Outfield, She’s Out of Control, The Hollywood Knights and Don Jon, to name a few. In addition to Darby and the Dead, he’s most recently been seen on Starz’s Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Seeso/Hulu’s There’s… Johnny! and the animated feature Rumble for Paramount+, also leading the Netflix series The Good Cop opposite Josh Groban. The actor will next be seen in the second season of HBO Max’s Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That… and Power Book III Season 3 and has a sequel to Who’s the Boss? currently in development with Amazon’s Freevee.
Appearing in prominent roles on Fox’s Deputy, Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, MTV/VH1’s Scream: The TV Series and AMC/Netflix’s The Killing, Taylor-Klaus has also been seen on series including Arrow, Here and Now, iZombie and House of Lies. Notable film credits include the drama Blackbird with Sam Neill, Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet, and the Netflix pic Dumplin‘ led by Danielle Macdonald.
Saunders made his directorial debut with Dotty & Soul, a comedy in which he starred opposite Tony and Daytime Emmy winner Leslie Uggams, which premiered at the 2022 San Diego Film Festival and is slated for release this spring.
Danza is repped by APA, manager Dan Farah and Greenberg Glusker; Taylor-Klaus by Mosaic, Aperture Talent and Felker Toczek Suddleson.