In one of the main upsets of the Writers Strike, the Aziz Ansari movie Good luck closes indefinitely.
Ansari directed and starred opposite Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves in the comedy, which he also wrote and produced for Lionsgate. The studio decided that on Thursday.
The hope is that production will resume at a later date, although it’s unclear when that will happen or what will happen if the strike continues through the summer. Ansari wrote the script and, according to sources, wrote no additional material for the film, per the strike rules.
Still, the strike proved to be a challenge for production. Picketers paused production this week on May 16 and 17 while it attempted to film in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.
Several functions have been delayed during the strike. Marvel’s Sheet It was a month after a June start date in Atlanta when the studio hit hiatus because the script wasn’t ready, but this is the first studio movie to be halfway through filming and cut during the strike.
Ansari rose to prominence as a star of the NBC sitcom Parks and Rec and went on to be acclaimed as the creator of Netflix’s Emmy award-winning series Master of nothing.
This is the second setback for Ansari as he attempts to direct his first feature film. Previously, he spent time directing Being mortal for Searchlight, but production was permanently halted in the wake of an investigation into star Bill Murray’s conduct, following an upcoming complaint about the actor. “I did something that I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way,” Murray told CNBC April 2022.
