Borat director Larry Charles and the Wilson brothers are teaming up on a broad comedy that will co-star Martin Lawrence.
Luke Wilson will star as Howie Summers, a man, falsely accused of a bank robbery, who, thanks to his criminally incompetent lawyer (Owen Wilson) finds himself serving a life sentence in prison. On the advice of his cellmate Slick (Lawrence), he finds a wife on the outside and marries the seemingly sweet, demure woman.
When, shortly afterwards, Howie is exonerated, he suddenly finds himself married to a woman he barely knows.
Luke Wilson co-wrote the script to the so-far-untitled project with Buck Ritchey. The film is set to begin shooting July 11.
Voltage Pictures is shopping the film to buyers in Cannes.
Best known for his work with Sacha Baron Cohen, including Borat, Brüno and The Dictator, Charles recently wrapped production on Army of One, a comedy starring Nicolas Cage as a civilian who sets off, on his own, to hunt down Osama Bin Laden. He is repped by WME.
Luke Wilson next appears, alongside Judy Greer and Cannes jury member Donald Sutherland, in the Jim Loach-directed dramedy The Measure of a Man. He is repped by CAA. Owen Wilson, who is repped by UTA, stars, together with Zach Galifianakis and Kristen Wiig, in the upcoming heist comedy Masterminds.
May 10, 2016 Updated 6.05 am: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Luke Wilson’s character played a lawyer in the film. The Hollywood Reporter regrets the error. The story has also updated casting on the project.
