EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Emmy winner and five-time Golden Globe nominee Jeff Daniels has been set to lead comedy The Reception, about a chaotic Scottish wedding.
Trudie Styler is directing for her and Celine Rattray’s banner Maven Screen Media and Piers Tempest’s Tempo Productions.
Beta Cinema is launching international sales at this week’s TIFF market. CAA Media Finance is representing North America.
Pre-production is underway, with filming set to begin next month and additional high-end cast being finalized now. The movie will shoot in a castle near the famous Loch Ness, just outside Inverness in Scotland.
The synopsis reads: “Set at a grand Scottish estate, a wedding party proceeds despite the unfortunate absence of the bride and groom. Felix has abandoned Victoria at the altar, leaving their parents, family and friends to navigate a lavish but increasingly chaotic reception. What begins as an attempt to keep up appearances spirals into a day of calamity, hilarity, and unexpected connections, as the in-laws, staff, and guests confront their own relationships amidst the fallout.”
Trudie Styler (Up Against It) directs and produces the feature with Maven Screen Media business partner Celine Rattray (Unicorns) producing alongside Piers Tempest (The Wife). Recent features for Maven include Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut of Eleanor the Great which premiered at Cannes Film Festival last year.
Screen veteran Daniels, known for hit movies and series including Gettysburg, The Newsroom and Dumb and Dumber, has movies 2034 and Starman upcoming.
The Reception is the fifth directing project from Styler. Her most recent project Up Against it is premiering this week at TIFF. Previous directing projects include The Sweatbox, a documentary commissioned by Disney which she co-directed; her directorial debut Freak Show, which was nominated for three awards at Berlin in 2017 and Posso Entrare? An Ode to Naples, which earned Italy’s Globo d’Oro for best documentary in 2024.
